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LIFE 



CAPTAIN NATHAN HALE 



Partp-SpH rf t¥ J^tMiran §lMuti0n, 



By I. W. STUART. 

"J!Cf)us, fajfjilc fontj Firtue iuisfjcti in batn to saiic, 

finale, ftrigfjt antj Btnerous, founU a i^aplcsjs grabe ; 

212Ettf) (Eenius' libing flam* fjts bofsom gloincU, 

^nti Science lurcti i)im to fjcv sincct abolje ; 

En Oaorti^'0 fair patft fjia feet atibcntureti far, 

STfjc pritje of i9cace, tfje rising f)ope of £23ar; 

£u Ijutg firm, in tianger calm as ebcn — 

CTo frientjs uncfjanfiing, anlj sincere to |Llcaticn. 

fl^oiu »f)ort ijis course, tfje prije Tjotn earlg toon, 

asatjile iueeping jFrien'tjs{)ip moutns ijer favorite gone." 

Pres. Dwight. 

with illustrations. 

SECOND EDITION, TNLARCKD AND IMPROVED. 



HARTFORD: 

PUBLISHED BY F. A. BROWN. 

NEW YORK, D. APPLETON & CO: D. BURGESS & CO. 

BOSTON, SANBORN, CARTER & BAZIN. 

1856. 






Entered, according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by 

P. A. BROWN, 

In the Clerk's Office of the District Court of Connecticut. 



STEREOTYPED BY 

RICHARD H. HOBBS, 

HARTFORD, CONN. 



DEDICATED 

TO 

COLONEL CHARLES J. RUSS 

IN MARK OF REGARD 

FOR 

HIS VALUABLE ENCOURAGEMENT OF THE WORK 

AND IN TOKEN 

OF 

PERSONAL FRIENDSHIP. 



PREFACE. 

" I DO think it hard," wrote Stephen Hempstead, the friend and 
companion of the subject of the following Memoir, "that Hale, 
who was equally brave, young, accomplished, learned and honor- 
able — should be forgotten on the very threshold of his fame, even 
by his countrymen; that while our own historians have done 
honor to the memory of Andre, Hale should be unknown ; that 
while the remains of the former have been honored even by our 
own countrymen, those of the latter should rest among the clods 
of the valley, undistinguished, unsought, and unknown." 

Most fully do we accord in sentiment with the patriotic remon- 
strant just quoted. It is indeed 'hard,' that a spirit exalted as 
was that of Captain Nathan Hale— that a life and conduct like his 
own, so pure, so heroic, so disinterested, and so crowned by an 
act of martyrdom one of the most galling and valiant on record — 
should not have been fitly commemorated, hitherto, either by the 
pen of history or of biography. His ' remains ' — the dust and 
ashes of his body — of these no one can tell the place of inter- 
ment. For aught that any exploration can reveal, they may be 
now 

" imprisoned in the viewless winds, 
And blown with restless violence about 
Tiie pendent world — " 



11 P EFFACE. 

though, it is certain, they were first deposited somewhere within 
the circuit of the Empire-City of the Union — and thousands of 
gay-hearted mortals, at the present moment, daily and hourly 
walk probably over the spot, ' not knowing where they tread ' — 
and none can ever know until the Grave gives up its dead. 

But this fact by no means excuses the silence of history about 
the youthful hero. Marshall, Ramsay, Gordon, Butler, Botta — 
not one word have they to say concerning him. Bancroft has not 
yet reached him. Hannah Adams just mentions him. Popular 
school histories merely allude to his fate. A brief sketch of him 
by the late J. S. Babcock, an author of Hale's native town, which 
is beauteous for the spirit in which it is written, but is compara- 
tively barren of facts — meagre notices of him in Allen's Biogra- 
phical Dictionary, in Pease and Niles' Gazeteer, and in Holmes' 
Annals — an Address before the Hale Monument Association by 
the late Hon. A. T. Judson, which embodies touching comment 
on Hale's character, and the closing acts of his career, but which 
does not assume to give the details of his life — short, but valuable 
references to him by H. Onderdonk Jr., and B. J. Lossing 
Esquire, in their respective works — these, and a succinct tale 
which appeared in the New York Sunday Times several years 
ago, together with a few paragraphs in Sparks' Life of Andre, and 
a few more in Thompson's History of Long Island — constitute, so 
far as we can ascertain, all that has been done in the way of 
biographical contribution to his memory. And as for notices of 
him, of any importance, the other side of the Atlantic — such of 
course we should hardly expect — nor are there any, we think it 
njay be safely affirmed. 



PREFACE. Ill 

In this dearth of memoir with regard to Hale — feeling that his 
life signally deserved an ejEFort for its exliibition — we began to look 
for materials for the purpose. We consulted documents of every 
kind, within our reach, that might by possibility contain them — 
and jotted down, one after another, each item that we thought 
relevant and true. Fortunately we procured Hale's own Camp- 
Book — in which, for some time, he kept a diary. We succeeded 
in obtaining some of his correspondence — a few letters from his 
own pen, and quite a number addressed to him by others. We 
garnered the statements concerning him made by his own faithful 
attendant in camp, Asher Wright — and those also of Stephen 
Hempstead, that confidential soldier in his company to whom we 
have already referred, and who was Hale's companion, for a por- 
tion of the time, on his last fatal expedition. We consulted also 
many aged persons, in different places — several who were person- 
ally acquainted with Hale — and among these last, particularly, the 
lady to whom Hale was betrothed, and the venerable Colonel 
Samuel Green, who, at New London, was a pupil of Hale's, and 
remembered him, and many interesting facts concerning him, per- 
fectly. We made many inquiries of Hale's relatives, near and 
remote, and among these, particularly, of two of his grand- 
nephews, Chauncey Howard Esquire of Hartford, Connecticut, 
and Rev. EnwARd E. Hale of Worcester, Massachusetts, to each 
of whom we are indebted for much and valuable information. J. 
W. BoYNTON Esquire, also of Coventry, the Secretary of the 
Hale Monument Association — Hon. Henry C. Deming, and 

George Brinley Jr., Esquire, of Hartford — Hon. H. E. Peck, 
1 



IV PREFACE. 

of New Haven — the Rev. Dr. Sprague, of Albany, New York — 
Hon. James W. Beekman, of New York City — the late venerable 
Gen. Jeremiah Johnson, of Brooklyn, Long Island — and especially 
Henry Onderdonk, Jr., Esquire, of Jamaica, Long Island, author 
of the " Revolutionary Sketches of Queens County " —most politely 
added to our stores. 

We procured also affidavits or well-authenticated statements, 
from various persons upon Long Island, who were cotemporaries 
of Hale, and conversant with his fate — as from Robert Townsend, 
a farmer of Oyster Bay, who heard the details of his capture from 
the British officer who seized him. Captain Quarme — from Solo- 
mon "Wooden, a shipbuilder, in 1776, near the place of Hale's cap- 
ture, and familiar with its incidents — from the families of Jesse 
Fleet and Samuel Johnson, who lived at Huntington, East Neck, 
upon the very spot where he was made a prisoner — and particularly 
from Andrew Hegeman, and Tunis Bogart, honest farmers, who 
during the Revolution were impressed from Long Island as wagon- 
ers in the British service, and who themselves saw Hale executed. 
We had besides in ouk possession the report made to Genei'al Hull 
by an officer of the British Commissariat Department, who also 
saw Hale hung, and was " deeply moved by the conduct and fate 
of the unfortunate victim." 

Thus furnished with materials — and more abundantly than at 
first we expected — we began to prepare the present volume. Yet 
at best — considering how much really there must have been in 
the life and character of Hale, attractive to a laudable curiosity, 
that like the dust into which his manly frame has been dissipated, 



PREFACE. V 

must lie hidden forever from our knowledge — we were but poorly 
equipped. Many things, to be written down, it is true, were plain — 
were easy of arrangement, and caused no embarrassment to our 
pen. But other things again, worthy of record, were wrapt in 
gloom. There were points, hitherto in dispute, to be settled. 
There were points, unknown when we commenced our labor, to 
be developed in the progress, and by the process of examination. 
Side by side then, or stretched out in links seemingly incapable of 
connection, we placed our various materials — many of them scraps 
merely of information, atomic, insulated, and wholly unpromising 
of results. Comparison and contrast gradually shed light upon 
them. They grew related. They knit together. Little family 
groups of affiliated facts and conclusions started up from their 
midst, and ever and anon, as new and pleasant merchandise, 
aided to load up the train of our biography. 

So we proceeded, on to our journey's end — slowly — but surely, 
we would fain believe — with all the certainty that could attend our 
steps, and where it did not, certain of our uncertainty. "We have 
at last, consequently, cut a road for all who wish to travel over the 
life of Hale — not a long one to those who may pursue it — ^nor 
tedious, we fain would trust. We have not, it will be observed, 
set up thickly along in its course the posts of authorities, but con- 
tent ourselves with erecting one large and general one at our point 
of departure — here in this Preface — in the paragraphs just above. 
Therewith will not every traveller in our track be satisfied ? We 
trust that he will. 

Some notes he will find by the way, but they are made, chiefly, 



VI PEEFACE. 

to illustrate the text — seldom for the purpose of proving its 
genuineness. 

A Genealogy of the Family of Nathan Hale, will also be 
found. It is from the pen of a gentleman, to whom we 
have already alluded as one of the grand-nephews of the 
subject of this Memoir — the Rev. Edward E. Hale, of Wor- 
cester, Massachusetts. Prepared, as it has been, with great 
labor of research, with scrupulous judgment, and skill of 
arrangement, it forms a most valuable addition to the present 
volume, and can not prove otherwise than acceptable, to all espe- 
cially of the Hale blood. Our own obligations to its worthy author 
for the pains he has taken in its execution, and for its gratuitous 
use in our pages, are deep and abiding. 

Pictorial illustrations also the Reader will find — views, first of 
Hale's Birth-Place — second, of Hale and his brothers playing the 
forbidden game of Morris — third of his entering New York with 
his Prize Sloop — ^fourth, of his passing in disguise within the Camp 
of the Enemy — fifth, of his Capture — sixth, of his march to Exe- 
cution — seventh, of bis Camp Basket, and Camp Book — eighth, 
of his Monument — and ninth, of Andre. Save the first view, 
which, chiefly, is copied from one by J. W. Barber Esquire, in his 
" Historical Collections of Connecticut," and that of the Monu- 
ment, procured originally by the Secretary of the " Hale Associa- 
tion," and that of Andre, from a copy of the one in the Trumbull 
Gallery at New Haven — they have all been designed under the 
eye of the author of this work — in the first instance for his own 
gratification simply — as an ornament for his parlor — and without 



PREFACE. Vll 

reference to publication. The second owes its origin to the skillful 
pencil of Henry Bryant, artist, of Hartford. The third is from 
the quick and ingenious hand of W. M. B. Hartley Esquire, of 
New York. The rest were designed by Joseph Ropes, a highly 
accomplished artist, also of Hartford, Connecticut. They have all 
been copied and impressed, with most praiseworthy care, at the 
excellent Lithographic Establishment of E. B., and E. C. Kellogg, 
also of Hartford. 

That his labor may prove grateful, and instruct the patriotism 
of the Reader, and move his noblest sensibilities in behalf of one, 

" The pride of Peace, the rising hope of War," 

who, in a crisis of danger the most appalling, gave up youth, hope, 
ambition, love, life, all, for his native land, is the fervent wish of 
the author of the following pages. Through these, Nathan 
Hale, the illustrious Martyr-Spy of the American Revolu- 
tion, asks to be remembered by his countrymen. 

I. W. STUART. 
Charter Oak Place, 

Nov. 30th, 1855. 



CONTENTS. 

CHAP. I. 

Page. 
Hale's birth, family, and birth place. His early training. 

He prepares for College. He enters Yale. His career 
in College. He graduates, and takes a school in East 
Haddam, Conn. His occupations there. He removes 
to New London, and continues to teach. His feelings 
and ability as an instructor. The manner in which he 
spent his time. His correspondence. His personal appear- 
ance. His great activity** The rich promise of his youth. 13 

CHAP. II. 

The Lexington Alarm, Hale gives up his school, and joins 
the army as a volunteer. His motives in doing so. Is 
stationed for a-while at New London. Leaves for Boston. 
The prospect before him. Joins the brigade of Gen. Sulli- 
van. His life for six months in the Camp around Boston. 
His skill in military discipline — his studies — his amuse- 
ments — with extracts from his Diary 43 

CHAP. III. 

Hale leaves the vicinity of Boston for New York. His gal- 
lant capture of a British sloop in the East River. His 



X CONTENTS. 

Pagk. 

station, occupation, patriotism, attachments, and character- 
istic modesty, illustrated by letters from his own pen. . . 70 

CHAP. IV. 

Circumstances of the American and British armies when 
Hale undertook his fatal mission. Tlie office of a spy — its 
danger — its ignominy. Col. Knowlton commissioned by 
Gen. Washington to procure some one to undertake it. 
He appeals to American officers, and to a French serjeant 
in the army. They all refuse, save Hale, who readily 
volunteers for the duty. His fellow-officers warmly remon- 
strate — but in vain. Hale nobly persists in his purpose. . 82 

CHAP. V. 

After receiving instructions from General Washington, he 
starts upon his expedition, accompanied by Stephen Hemp- 
stead, a confidential soldier of his own company. They 
reach Norwalk, Connecticut. Hale here assumes a dis- 
guise, parts with his companion, and leaves for Long 
Island in the sloop Huntington, Captain Pond. Safe pas- 
sage across the Sound. His journey to New York, and 
its risks 97 

CHAP. VI. 

He starts on his return to the American Camp. Reaches 
the " Cedars," East Neck, Huntington, L. I., where he is 
captured. His behaviour on the occasion. Is carried to 



CONTENTS. XI 

Faok. 

New York. The great fire in the city at 'the time. Is 
immediately taken before Gen. Howe. The head-quarters, 
appearance, and character of the British Commander-in- 
chief. Hale's heroic conduct upon his examination. Is 
condemned as a spy, and is to be hung " at daybreak the 
next morning^ 108 

CHAP. VII. 

A reflection. Hale unappalled. His confinement after sen- 
tence. His jailer and executioner, William Cunningham, 
Provost-Marshal of the British army. Cruel treatment 
of Hale. His gloomy situation. His noble endurance. 
Writes letters to his friends, and prepares himself, subhme- 
ly, for the catastrophe. Is taken out to die. The brutal 
Provost-Marshal tauntingly demands from him a dying 
speech. That speech ! The fatal swing 123 

CHAP. VIII. 

Effect of Hale's death — upon Gen. Washington — upon the 
American army — upon his relatives and friends else- 
where — upon his camp attendant, Asher Wright. Deep 
and general mourning. The Hale Monument Association. 
The Monument. Extracts from poetry in memory of Hale. 
An epitaph by a friend. Comparison between Hale and 
Andre. Conclusion 144 



X]l CONTENTS. 

APPENDIX. 

Page. 

A. Genealogy of the Family of Nathan Hale, 189 

B. Of Hale's father, 211 

C. Hale's Linonian Society Speech, 213 

D. List of Hale's classmates, 216 

E. Sketch of Hale's friend, Benjamin Tallmadge, . . . 217 

F. Sketch of the lady to whom Hale was betrothed, . . . 223 

G. Hale's Diary, 226 

H. Sketch of Hale's companion, Stephen Hempstead, . .251 

I. Of Hale's supposed betrayal by a relative, 257 

J. Remarks on Hale by Hon. H. J. Raymond of New York, 268 



NATHAN HALE 



CHAPTEK I. 

Hale's birth, family, and birthplace. His early training. He 
prepares for College. He enters Yale. His career in College. 
He graduates, and takes a school in East Haddam, Conn. His 
occupations there. He removes to New London, and continues 
to teach. His feelings and ability as an instructor. The manner 
in which he spent his time. His correspondence. His personal 
appearance. His great activity. The rich promise of his 
youth. 

Kathan Hale was born in Coventry, Con- 
necticut, June sixth, 1755. He was tlie sixth of 
twelve children, nine sons and three daughters, 
offspring of Eichard and Elizabeth Hale, and was 
the third in descent from John Hale, the first 
minister of Beverly, Massachusetts.* His father, 
a man of sterling integrity, piety and industry, 
had emigrated early in life from Newbury in 
Massachusetts to Coventry, where, as farmer. 



* See Appendix A. 

2 



14 NATHAN HALE. 

magistrate, deacon in tlie cliurcti, and representa- 
tive several times in the General Assembly, be 
passed a long, laborious and useful life, and died 
on the first of June, 1802, much lamented.* His 
mother, the daughter of Joseph and Elizabeth 
Strong, of Coventry, was a lady of high moral 
and domestic worth, strongly attached to her 
children, and careful of their culture. The family 
was eminently Puritan in its faith, tastes, and 
manners — a quiet, strict, godly household, where 
the Bible ruled, and family prayers never failed, 
nor was grace ever omitted at meals, nor work 
done after sundown on a Saturday night. 

The nature of Kathan Hale's early training- 
may hence be understood. He must have been 
brought up scrupulously "in the fear of God." 
His after life proves that he was, though when a 
stripling his lively instincts led him at times to 
rebel a little, with some of his brothers, but never 
rudely, against parental strictness. An incident 
is preserved, illustrating this last remark. His 
father forbade his children to use the morris-board, 

* See Appendix B. 



N A T H A N H A L E . 15 

thinking the diversion might lead to evil, and to 
restrain them, would allow at times but one light 
in the room. This he was accustomed to hold in 
his own hand, while he sat in a large arm-chair, 
and read till he sank to sleep. The attempt to 
remove the candlestick from his grasp was almost 
sure to result in waking him. So the boys, Na- 
than among them — thoughtless for the moment 
of the wrong of disobedience — used to cluster 
around his chair, and play out their games on the 
morris-board, while the sleeping father, uncon- 
sciously at the time — 

"Holding the tallow candle till its close, 
Let no flame waste o'er his repose." 

The old-fashioned, two-storied house in which 
scenes like this just described took place, stands 
upon elevated ground, with a fine prospect west- 
ward, and had, at the time of which we speak, 
the appendages of copious yards, and outbuildings, 
and trees, "^ while the town around, the gift of the 



* See Frontispiece. The three rows of maples in front of the 
Hale mansion were not there in the time of Nathan, but were set 



16 NATHAX HALE. 

Mohegan sachem Joseph to its first proprietors, 
was much varied by hill and dale, forest and 
meadow, and beautified with a large lake and 
numerous streams. 

Nathan early exhibited a fondness for those rural 
sports to which such a birthplace and scenery 
naturally invited him. He loved the gun and 
fishing-rod, and exhibited great ingenuity in fash- 
ioning juvenile implements of every sort. He 
was fond of running, leaping, wrestling, firing at a 
mark, throwing, lifting, playing ball. In conse- 
quence, his infancy, at first feeble, soon hardened 
by simple diet and exercise into a firm boyhood. 
And with the growth of his body, his mind, 
naturally bright and active, developed rapidly. He 
mastered his books with ease, was fond of reading 
out of school, and was constantly applying his in- 
formation. His mother, and particularly his grand- 
mother Strong, nourished his thirst for knowledge, 
and to their influence it was owing that his father 
at last consented, contrary to his original purpose, 

out many years subsequently, by order and at the expense of the 
late David Hale Ksquire of New York. 



NATHAN HALE. 17 

to fit him for college. He was to be educated for 
the ministry, as were also two of his brothers, and 
was placed as a pupil under the care of Doctor 
Joseph Huntington, the pastor of the parish in 
which he was born. 

Classical academies were then rare out of the 
county towns of New England, and the country 
boy who aspired to a liberal education was gener- 
ally compelled to learn his Latin and Greek from 
the clergj^man. And in most cases he was thus 
well taught. In Hale's instance there is no doubt 
of the fact. His instructor, as his various contro- 
versial and other writings show, was very compe- 
tent. He " was considered, in the churches, a pat- 
tern of learning," was laborious, assiduous, and 
mild, * and when, in 1770, young Nathan, then 



* The following epitaph on his grave-stone gives a just summary 

of his character : — 

" Rev. Joseph Huntington, D. D., ordained June 29th, 1763 ; died Dec. 25th, 
1794, in the 60th year of his age, and 32d of his ministrj'. He was an emi- 
nent divine, and laborious minister ; an affectionate parent and friend. He 
was considered in the churches a pattern of learning, an illustrious example of 
extensive charity, and was much improved as a councillor and peace- maker. 
Blessed are the peace-makers, for they shall be called the children of God." 

He was the brother of ^muel Huntington L. L. D., who was 
2* 



18 NATHAN HALE. 

in his sixteenth year, presented himself for admis- 
sion to the halls of Yale, we have reason to believe 
that he passed the ordeal of examination with 
more than usual credit in reading, writing, and 
arithmetic, and a very reputable acquaintance with 
Sallust, Cicero, and the Greek Testament. 

Of his career in college but little is known. 
That it was distinguished by good scholarship, 
good behaviour, and industry, is however certain. 
That it was marked by great popularity among his 
fellows, and with the Faculty, is equally certain. 
Doctor Dwight, his tutor, entertained a very high 
idea of his capacity. He has beautifully eulogized 
him in verse. He was wonted, down to the close 
of his life, frequently to recur to him, and always 
in terms of admiration of his course in college, 
and of deep regret for his untimely fate.^ B}^ 

President, in 1779 and 1780, of the old Continental Congress, and 
afterwards, for nine years, the Chief Magistrate of Connecticut. 
He left two children — one of whom became the wife of Edward 
Dorr Griffin, D. D., President of William's College, and the other, 
a son, Samuel Huntington, emigrated to Ohio, of which State he 
became Chief Justice and Governor. 

*In the American Historical Magazine for January, 1836, is 



NATHAN HALE. 19 

him, as also from relatives of the pupil, we are 
assured that Hale was peculiarly fond of scientific 
pursuits, and that in these he stood at the head 
of his class. "And Science lured him to her 
sweet abode," is the language of Doctor Dwight — 
a fact proved also by the preponderance of books 
in this department in Hale's own little library — 
among which, particularly, was a new and com- 
plete Dictionary, in four large octavo volumes, of 
the arts and sciences — comprehending all the 
branches of useful knowledge, with accurate des- 
criptions as well of various machines and instru- 
ments as of the classes, kinds, preparations and 
uses of natural productions, and illustrated with 



a communication, signed M., and written, we are assured by the 
Editor, by a " gentleman who was connected with the medical staff 
of the Revolutionary army," and who was " an early acquaintance 
and friend of Hale." In this the writer says: ^^ Nathan Hale I 
was acquainted with, from his frequent visits at my father's house, 
while an academical student. His own remarks, and the remarks 
of my father, left at that period an indelible impression on my 
mind." — " His urbanity and general deportment were peculiarly 
attracting, and for solid acquirements I am sure he would lose 
nothing in comparison with Andre." 



20 NATHAN HALE. 

above three hundred copper-plate engravings. In 
the languages also he was a proficient. He stood, 
as the Commencement Exercises show, among the 
first thirteen in a class of thirty-six. 

That he was anxious for mental improvement, 
and labored diligently to secure it, is proved by 
other facts. While at Yale, he took a most active 
and leading part as a member of the Linonian 
Society in this Institution — a Society which was 
established for the purpose of furnishing, aside 
from the regular course of academical stud}^, lite- 
rary stimulus and rhetorical improvement to the 
undergraduates, and of promoting in their midst 
feelings of harmony and friendship. Hale was the 
first of his own class to be chosen as its Chancellor^ 
or presiding officer."^ With Timothy D wight, 
afterwards the distinguished President of Yale 

* The Linonian Society was founded in 1753 — and is the oldest 
organization of its kind, it is believed, to be found in the country. 
Its presiding officer was called Chancellor down to 1789 — after 
which time he was called President. Of Hale's class, twenty-one 
were members — of whom, after Hale, Thomas Mead, William 
Robinson, Ebeuozer Williams, and Roger Alden, were also Chan- 
cellors. 



NATHAN HALE. 21 

College — and James Hillhouse, afterwards tlie cele- 
brated civilian and Senator in Congress from Con- 
necticut — lie cooperated in founding its Library. 
The Spectator, Addison's Evidences, Paradise Lost, 
Young's ISTiglit Thoughts, Priors Poems, the Trav- 
els of Cyrus, and the Elements of Criticism, in 
two volumes — works which indicate the sound- 
ness of his own literary taste — ^were among the 
books bestowed by himself for this purpose — to a 
Society which now counts its volumes to a number 
exceeding thirteen thousand, and which, with just 
pride and pleasure, looks back to Hale as one of 
the strong pillars of its infancy. 

But besides his agency in founding its Library^ 
the records of the Society in question, show Hale's 
praiseworthy diligence in other respects. His 
name, in his own day, occurs in the reports of 
almost every meeting — at one time, as having de- 
livered " a very interesting narration" — at another, 
' 'an eloquent extemporaneous address " — at another, 
as taking part in some one of the plays which 
were frequently acted at that period — and upon 
still other occasions, as proposing questions for 



22 NATHAN HALE 

discussion.* At the close of the academical year 
in 1772, it devolved upon him specially — in his 
capacity as in-coming Chancellor — to respond, in 
behalf of the fraternity, to a Valedictory Address 
from one of the members of the graduating class — 
y^-doubtless the retiring Chancellor of the Society. 
This duty he performed with propriety and with 
affectionate zeal — as his Speech upon the. occasion 
now fortunately in our hands, abundantly shows. f 
At thought of separating from those, Hale pro- 



*Many of the reports of the Society for the year 1771 were 
written by Hale himself as scribe, and are signed by his name in 
full. Here, for example, is an entry made by him, which contains 
a question for discussion, proposed by himself: — 

" Feb. 27th, ] 771. — This venerable Society met at Hayes' Room. 
The meeting was opened by a Narration, spoken by "Williams, 
and after some questions the meeting was dismissed. Question 
brought in by myself. Q. How are the parts of life divided? 
Answer. Into three : the vegetative, the sensitive, and the 
rational. 

Test, Nathan Hale." 

t We are indebted to Chauncey M. Depew Esq., the President 
at this time of the Linonian Society, for this Speech, and for other 
valuable items illustrating Hale's connection with the said Society. 
He carefullv scrutinized the records in our behalf, and for this 



NATHAN HALE. 23 

ceeded to say, who had '' been rendered dear '' to 
the Society, "not only by a long and intimate 
acquaintance, but by the strictest bonds of unity 
and friendship " — by their " ability " — and by the 
"regard" they had ever expressed for " Linonia 
and her sons" — the countenances of those present 
were "bedimmed with an unusual kind of sadness." 
The departure of these gentlemen, he remarked, 
was deeply to be regretted — whether they were 
viewed as "patrons," whose "utmost care and 
vigilance" the Society had shared — or as "bene- 
factors," whose liberality had been manifested "in 
rich and valuable donations " to the Association — 
or as "friends and brothers," whose "amiable 
company and conversation," and whose " cordial 
affection" had been the source of "inexpressible 
happiness." Under their wise management of af- 
fairs, he continued — the members of the Society 
had not only " been entertained with all the pleas- 
ures of familiar conversation," but improved "in 

attention will please receive our special thanks. To the prompt 
courtesy also of E. K. Foster Esq., of New Haven, we are in 
this connection much indebted. 



24 NATHAN HALE. 

useful knowledge and literature." They had taken 
"unwearied pains," he affirmed, at a time when 
the Society was warmly attacked, to "suppress its 
opposers,"* and increasing its "dignity and 
power," had caused it to rise, "step by step," to its 
"ancient splendor." For all these services, as well 
as for the judicious instructions in regard to the 
management of the Society which they had just 
communicated through their Valedictorian, Hale 
returned the sincere thanks of the members who 
were to remain, and pledged their future "spirited" 
exertions "in Linonia's cause." "With steadiness 
and resolution," he affirmed, they would " strive 
to make her shine with unparalled lustre " — and 
giving assurance that the memory of their parting 
friends would "always be very dear" to the fra- 
ternity, he invoked for them all, the propitious 
smiles of Heaven.f 

In still farther demonstration of his thirst for 
intellectual improvement, it is to be mentioned, that, 
in addition to an active participation in the regular 



* He refers here to a rival society, then not long formed. 
tSee Appendix C. 



NATHAN HALE. 25 

exercises of the Linonian Society, and of the Col- 
lege, Hale was in the habit of epistolary corres- 
pondence with some of his classmates npon literary 
subjects — on themes of taste and criticism, and of 
grammar and philology. 

He would correct carefully, and in writing, the 
compositions of some of his fellows, and receive 
the same friendly office in return. A letter from 
Benjamin Tallmadge, his classmate, still preserved, 
is of this character, in which the latter vindicates 
his own use of the comparative degree against a 
previous criticism by Hale.^ 



* " In my delightsome retirement from the fruitless bustle of the 
noisy " — writes Tallmadge to Hale, in this connection, in a few pass- 
ages which we here extract — " with my usual delight, and perhaps 
with more than common attention, I perused your epistle. Replete 
as it was with sentiments worthy to be contemplated, let me assure 
you, with the confidence of aft affectionate friend, that with noth- 
ing was my pleasure so greatly heightened as with your various 
remarks upon my preceding performance; which, so far from 
carrying the appearance of a censuring critic's empty amusement, 
seemed to me to be wholly the result of unspotted regard, and 
(as I may say) fraternal esteem. 

" This method of writing is not wholly destitute of every advan- 
tage. [Such an allegation had been made.] For in the first 



26 NATHAN HALE. 

Nor did Hale while in college forget his ath- 
letic sports. The marks of a prodigious leap 
which he made upon the Grreen in New Haven, 
were long preserved, and pointed out. His in- 
tercourse with his mates was always affable. He 
formed many college friendships, and they lasted 
till his death — with James Hillhouse, Benjamin 
Tallmadge, Eoger Alden, John P. Wyllys, Tho- 
mas Mead, Elihu Marvin, and others his class- 
mates, with whom he kept up an intimate corres- 
pondence as long as he lived.* He was assigned, 
on graduating, a part with Tallmadge, f and Wil- 



place, it affords an opportunity, as well as gives a person a dispo- 
sition, carefully to scrutinize all manner of writing, while it will 
be a monitor to himself to avoid defects manifest in the same, and 
secondly, it may be of advantage to us in causing us carefully to 
consider what we assert, that so we may be able to defend the 
same against the captious wills, and the insidious words of our 
adversaries. To obtain advantage myself, and to be contributory, 
as much as I am able, to your improvement, was certainly my 
whole design in undertaking this exercise ; and I doubt not but 
that the same reasons were your greatest inducements." 

* See Appendix D, for a list of all Hale's classmates. 

+ See Appendix E, for a sketch of Tallmadge. 



NATHAN HALE. 27 

liam Eobmson,"^ and Ezra Samson, f in a Latin 
Syllogistic Dispute, followed by a Forensic Debate, 
on tke question, " Whetlier the Education of 
Dau.gliters be not, without any just reason, more 

* William Robinson — a direct descendant from the famous John 
Robinson of Leyden — was born at Lebanon, Connecticut, August 
15th, 1754. After leaving College, he studied for the ijiinistry. 
In 1780 he was ordained pastor of the church at Southington, 
Connecticut. It is a remarkable fact concerning him, that in the 
winter of this year — one of the coldest and most severe upon rec- 
ord — he walked the whole distance from Windsor to Southington, 
about thirty miles, on snow-shoes, to be settled. He continued in 
this station forty-one years — discharging its duties with exemplary 
fidelity, meekness, and ability. Like his classmate Hale, he was 
eminently patriotic, and his cooperation in the Revolution was con- 
stant and powerful. He died August 15th, 1845, on his birth-day, 
aged seventy-one years. He was the father of Rev. Edward Rob- 
inson L. L. D., the distinguished Professor in the University of 
New York, of George Robinson Esq., of Hartford, and of Wil- 
liam Robinson Esq., of New Haven — both worthy citizens of Con- 
necticut. 

t Ezra Samson, after graduating, was settled for awhile as a 
clergyman — but his health failing him, he became editor first of 
the Balance, published at Hudson, New York, and then of the 
Courant, at Hartford, Connecticut. He was a very worthy man, 
and distiucruished as a fine writer. 



28 NATHAN HALE. 

neglected than that of Sons " — a curious theme, 
as implying in that early day an inattention to the 
mental cultivation of the gentler sex which can- 
not be charged on our own age. How Hale man- 
aged with the subject we are not informed, but an 
especial favorite as he always was with the ladies, 
we doubt not that his nature urged him upon this 
occasion to vindicate their claims to educational 
advantages. 

Soon after graduating, which was in September, 
1773, he commenced keeping school. His first 
engagement in this way was at East Haddam, 
where he spent the winter of 1773-4; in what 
kind of school precisely we are not informed, but 
probably in some select one where he was required 
to instruct both in English and in the Classical 
Tongues. East Haddam was at this time a place 
of much wealth and business activity, but if we 
are to judge from Hale's own description, rather 
secluded from the rest of the world. 

'' I was at the receipt of your letter," he writes 
his friend Mead, May second, 1774, from New 
London, " in East Haddam (alias Moodus,) a place 



NATHAN HALE. 29 

wliicli I at first, for a long time, concluded inac- 
cessable either by friends, acquaintance, or letters. 
Nor was I convinced of the contrary until I re- 
ceived yours, and at the same time two others 
from Alden* and Wyllys.t It was equally, or 
more difficult, to convey anything from Moodus." 

* Roger Aldcn — of whom as a friend, classmate, and correspon- 
dent of Hale, the Reader, we think, will be pleased to know that, 
like Hale, from purely patriotic motives, he joined the army of the 
Revolution, and distinguished himself as a brave and efficient offi- 
cer. In 1777, he was appointed by the Council of Safety of Con- 
necticut, Adjutant in Colonel Bradley's regiment. Governor 
Jonathan Trumbull the first — in recommending him after the 
war to the post of Deputy Secretary to Congress, speaks of him, in 
a letter now before us, dated April 1 1th, 1785, in the following com- 
plimentary terms : *■'■ Born in my neighborhood, and educated in a 
manner under my eye, I have had an opportunity of knownng him 
from his youth to the present time, and can therefore say that I look 
upon him as a young gentleman possessed of natural good abilities, 
enlarged by a liberal education, and improved by several years 
knowledge of mankind in the public service of his country, in 
which he acquitted himself with honor and reputation." — He died 
at West Point, N. T., Nov. 5th, 1836, aged eighty-eight. 

t John Palsgrave Wyllys — born in 1754, and the son of Hon. 
George "Wyllys, of Hartford, Connecticut, that distinguished Wor- 
thy, who for sixty-one years in succession filled the office of Sec- 
3* 



30 N A T H A N H A L E . 

But though, thus secluded, it is the testimony 
of a highly intelligent old lady,* who knew Hale 
well when he resided at East Haddam, that he 
was happy, faithful and successful in his office of 
teacher. " Everybody loved him," she said, " he 

retary for liis native State, and as such signed the Declaration of 
Independence. This son, hke his classmates Hale and Alden, also 
entered the service of his country when the war broke out — and 
he became a Major in the Revolutionary Army. He was subse- 
quently with Gen. Harmar in the famous expedition of this officer, 
m 1790, against the western Indians, and in the battle at Miami 
Village was unfortunately slain. Upon this occasion he was in 
command of a detachment of about sixty men, and at day-break 
in the morning, was cut off by a large party of the foe which 
"came in his rear through some hazels." Though mortally 
wounded, he yet earnestly begged to be placed on his horse again, 
that he might give the enemy another charge. His loss was deeply 
deplored both by Gen. Harmar, and by Gov. St. Clair, each of 
whom spoke of him as a brave and valuable officer. Tlie latter 
made special and honorable mention of him at the time, in a com- 
munication to the Secretary of War, and the President of the Cin- 
cinnati of the State of New York, upon the news of his death, 
instructed the members of the Society^ " in testimony of the high 
respect " they entertained for his memory, to " wear crape for the 
space of twenty-one days." 

* The late Mrs. Hannah Pierson. 



NATHAN HALE. 31 

was so sprightly, intelligent, and kind" — and, she 
added withal, ^^so handsome !" The rich scenery 
of the town, its rocky and uneven face, the phe- 
nomena from which it derives its Indian name, its 
numerous legends of Indian Pawaws, its Mount 
Tom and Salmon Eiver, were all sources of great 
delight to the young instructor, as habitually, the 
cares of school being over, he wandered around 
for air and exercise, for pleasure and the sports of 
the chase — there 

" where the little country girls 
Still stop to whisper, and listen, and look, 
And tell, while dressing their sunny curls, 
Of the Black Fox of Salmon Brook." 

His happy combination of amiability, vivacity^ 
and intelligence, soon attracted attention else- 
where, and in the winter of 1773-4, we find him 
negotiating with the Proprietors of the Union 
Grammar School in New London for the charge 
of that institution. This school was a select one, 
where none were accepted as teachers but those 
" whose characters bore the strictest scrutiny," and 
where Latin, English, writing, and arithmetic were 



82 NATHAN HALE. 

taught, and where the salary was seventy pounds 
a year, Avith the privilege of teaching, out of the 
regular school hours, private classes. In the 
spring of 1774 Hale took this situation, and in a 
letter to his friend Eoger Alden, dated New Lon- 
don, May second, 1774, thus describes it : 

" I am at present in a school in Kcav London. 
I think my situation somewhat preferable to what 
it was last winter. My school is by no means 
difficult to take care of — it consists of about thirty 
scholars, ten of whom are Latiners, and all but 
one of the rest are writers. I have a very con- 
venient school-house, and the people are kind and 
sociable. I promise myself some more satisfac- 
tion in writing and receiving letters from you 
than I have as yet had. I know of no stated 
communication, but without any doubt opportu- 
nities will be much more frequent than while I was 
at Moodus." 

In a letter to his uncle Samuel Hale, of Ports- 
mouth, New Hampshire — a most estimable and ex- 
cellent man, who, for a long series of years prior 
to the Eevolution, was at the head of the best 



NATHAN HALE. 33 

academy in that province — * lie gives, five months 
later, a farther history of his school-keeping. f 

" My own employment," he says, " is at present 
the same that you have spent your days in. I 
have a school of 32 boys, about half Latin, the 
rest English. The salary allowed me is £70 per 
annum. In addition to this I have kept, during 
the summer, a morning school, between the hours 
of five and seven, of about 20 young ladies ; for 
which I have received 6s. a scholar, by the quar- 
ter. The people with whom I live are free and gen- 
erous ; many of them are gentlemen of sense and 
merit. They are desirous that I would continue 
and settle in the school, and propose a considera- 
ble increase of wages. I am much at a loss whether 
to accept their proposals. Your advice in this 
matter, coming from an uncle and from a man 
who has spent his life in the business, would, I 
think, be the best I could possibly receive. A few 

*" He was the teacher," says a manuscript in our possession, 
" of Langdon, and Pickering, and others of the shining lights of 
Revolutionary days in New Hampshire. His life was a Ufe of use- 
fulness." See Appendix, Hale Geneal., Nos. 15. 

tThe letter is dated. New London, Sept. 24th, 1774. 



84 N A T H A N H A L E . 

lines on this subject, and also to acquaint me with 
the welfare of joui family, if your leisure will 
permit, will be much to the satisfaction of your 
most dutiful nephew, Nathan Hale." 

This letter shows that Hale's services as a teacher 
at ISTew London were highly appreciated by his 
employers — a fact which we learn also abundantly 
from other sources, and particularly from his pu- 
pils — who, in after years, all spoke in strong 
terms both of his skill in instruction, and of his 
excellence as a man.* 

* One of these pupils, Colonel Samuel Green, now of Hartford, 
Connecticut, still survives — and the following is his testimony : 
" Hale," he informs us, " was a man peculiarly engaging in his 
manners — these were mild and genteel. The scholars, old and 
young, were attached to him. They loved him for his tact and 
amiability. He was wholly without severity, and had a wonderful 
control over boys. He was sprightly, ardent and steady — bore a 
fine moral character, and was respected highly by all his acquain- 
tances. The school in which he taught was owned by the first 
gentlemen in New London, all of whom were exceedingly grati- 
fied by Hale's skill and assiduity." With this agrees the testimo- 
ny of Mrs. Elizabeth Poole, of New London, long an inmate of 
t!u' satue family with Hale, who says that "his capacity as a 



NATHAN HALE. 35 

His time at ITew London, out of school, was 
spent, a portion in social pleasures, but much of 
it in self-culture. The letters addressed to him 
which remain, as well as some letters of his own, 
show that he cultivated the intimacies he con- 
tracted in college, as well as. those which grew 
up elsewhere, with great assiduity, and that he 
wrote as well to improve his understanding as to 
pour out his friendship."^ The labors and duties 
of a teacher were a frequent theme in his letters 
to his classmates engaged in the same vocation. 
Nor were the ladies forgotten by his pen. He 



teacher, and the mildness of his mode of instruction, were highly 
appreciated both by parents and pupils" — that " he was peculiarly 
free from the shadow of guile " — and that " his simple, unostenta- 
tious manner of imparting right views and feelings to less cultiva- 
ted understandings" was unsurpassed by that of any individual, 
who, at the period of her acquaintance with him, or after, had 
fallen under her observation. To the same effect Miss Caulkins, 
in her History of New London, remarks, that " as a teacher, Capt. 
Hale is said to have been a firm disciplinarian, but happy in his 
mode of conveying instruction, and highly respected by his pupils." 
* Besides many of his classmates, John Hallam, Edward Hal- 
lam, Timothy Green, and Thomas Fosdick, of New London, Con- 
necticut, were among his principal correspondents. 



36 X A T H A N H A L E . 

had many female correspondents, and among 
these, one to his fancy "a bright, particular star" 
he "thought to wed" — a young lady of his native 
town with whom, in his father's family, he passed 
several years of intimacy, and to whom while in 
college he was betrothed.* Sometimes, though 

* It is to her that William Robinson, his classmate in college, 
refers in the following passage in a letter dated Windsor, [Conn.,] 
January twentieth, 1773, and addressed to Hale at East Haddam. 

" My school is not large ; my neighbors are kind and clever, 
and. (summatim) my distance from a house on your side the river 
which contains an object worthy the esteem of every one, and, as I 
conclude, has yours in an especial manner^ is not great." 

Her maiden name was Alice Adams, and she was born in Can- 
terbury, Connecticut. Her mother was the second wife of Captain 
Hale's father. She was distinguished both for her intelligence 
and her beauty. [See Appendix F.] 

At the time of Hale's first engagement to her, the parties — in 
the judgment of mutual friends — were altogether too young and 
inexperienced to become affiqjiced. Besides, there were objections 
to the connection on the ground of Hale's father having already 
married, for his second wife, the mother of Alice, and of Hale's 
brother John having married Sarah, the sister of Alice. The 
engagement, therefore, through the intervention of their friends, 
was terminated — and Alice, February 8th, 1773, married, for her 
first husband, INIr. Elijah Ripley, merchant, of Coventry, Con- 



NATHAN HALE. 37 

without 'a poet's just pretence,' with no attempt 
at the graces 

" which methods teach, 
And which a master hand can only reach," 

he threw his thoughts into rhyme — but not often, 
unless provoked by some poetical epistle which 

uecticut, Mr. Ripley died December 26th, 1774, in the twenty- 
eighth year of his age — twenty-two months and twenty-one days 
after his marriage — leaving his wife a widow in her eighteenth year, 
and leaving one child, a son named Elijah, who died October 17th, 
1775, in the second year of his age. After the decease of Mr. 
Ripley, the match was renewed between Nathan and Alice — the 
latter at the time having been adopted into the family of Hale's 
father — and remained unbroken until Hale's death. Subsequently 
to this event, ]\Irs. Ripley married William Lawrence Esq., of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut — where she lived highly esteemed, to a ripe old 
age. She died September 4th, 1845, aged eighty-eight — deceasing 
in the same month, and having been born in the same month with 
Hale. She possessed for many years a miniature of Hale, besides 
numerous letters from him, and one of his Camp-Books. The 
miniature, most unfortunately, has disappeared. So also have the 
letters ; but the Camp-Book we have seen and examined. It is 
now in the possession of one of the lady's grand-daughters, to 
whose polite and careful noting of her grandmother's statements 
we are indebted for several very interesting facts about Hale. 

Shakspeare makes " the idolatrous fancy" of a surviving lover 
4 



88 NATHAN HALE. 

he received — as once by one from liis friend Tall- 
madge at Wetliersfield, Connecticut, to whom, in 
reply to an apology by the latter for his Muse, 
Hale writes, 

" You're wrong to blame 
Tour generous Muse, and call her lame 5 
For when arrived, no mark was found 
Of weakness, lameness, sprain, or wound " — 

and bestriding her himself, he describes her as 
tripping, "without or spur or whip," back "along 
the way she lately trod" — giving 

" no fear or pain, 
Unless at times to hold the rein " — 

until at last, arrived at Wethersfield, Talhiiadge 
is invited, from the appearance of his Pegasus, to 

" unless entirely sound, 
If she could bear [Hale] such a round." 

" sanctify the relics " of a lover lost, and the strongest memories 
of old age, it is well known, fasten upon the years and events of 
youth. It is a striking circumstance in illustration, that the lady 
in question, just as her pulse of life was ebbing to its stop, mur- 
mured as her last words on earth, " Write to Nathan .'" 



NATHANHALE. 39 

It is the testimony of all who knew Hale, both 
at New London and elsewhere, that he was ever 
busy. "A man ought never to lose a moment's 
time," he enters in his Diary — "if he put off a 
thing from one minute to the next, his reluctance 
is but increased" — and his own life fully con- 
formed to the injunction which he thus formally 
notes down. "Always employed about some- 
thing," testifies Mrs. Lawrence, "he was ingenious 
and persevering." When his head was not at 
work, his hands were. Here, for example, is a 
large and beautiful Powder-horn, still remaining, 




)yRZ 



which he fashioned during one of his college 
vacations.^ Mrs. Lawrence, when a girl and a 

* It is now in possession of a grandson of the Mrs. Lawrence 
mentioned in the text, William Roderick Lawrence Esq^, of Hart- 
ford, Connecticut — who received it from his father, to whom it 



40 X A T H A N H A L E . 

member of his father's family, frequently saw him 
at work upon it, and remembered to her dying 
day the pecuhar concentrativeness of attention, 
and the zest with which upon this, as upon every- 
thing else in the way of construction that he 
undertook, he labored to bestow shape and come- 
liness. 

He used to say that he ''could do anything but 
spin," as he laughed with the girls over the spin- 
ning-wheel at Coventry. 

In height he was about five feet and ten inches, 
and was exceedingly well proportioned. His 
figure was elegant and commanding. He had a 
full, broad chest, full face, light blue eyes, light 
rosy complexion, and hair of a medium brown. 
The elasticity of his frame is well attested by 
feats which he used frequently to perform in New 
London. He not only, says Colonel Green, would 
put his hand upon a fence high as his head and 
clear it easily at a bound, but would jump from 

was given by Deacon Richard Hale, the fathei* of Nathan. We 
are much indebted to Mr. Lawrence for the beautiful delineation 
of it by his own hands. 



NATHANHALE. 41 

the bottom of one empty hogshead over and down 
into a second, and from the bottom of the second 
over and down into a third, and from the third 
over and out, hke a cat. "His face," adds Col. 
Green, "was full of intelligence and benevolence, 
of good sense and good feeling." — "Every new 
emotion," says Mrs. Poole, "lighted it with a bril- 
liancy perceptible to even common observers." — 
"He had marks on his forehead," says Asher 
AYright, "so that every body would know him 
who had ever seen him, having once had powder 
flashed in his face. He had also a large hair mole 
on his neck, just where the knot came. In his 
boyhood his companions sometimes twitted him 
about it, saying he would be hanged." 

Thus, genial in his nature — of refined address — 
of remarkable personal beauty — neat, unusually 
so both in his habits and dress — serious or gay 
with the nature of the occasion or subject — quick 
to discern and to relish a joke — of a disposition 
exceedingly affectionate — constant in his friend- 
ships — always ready to lend a helping hand — it is 

the uniform testimony of those who knew him, 
4* 



42 NATHANHALE. 

that no person more than Hale was the idol of his 
acquaintances, and that no young man of his day 
commenced life under more flattering auspices. 
His school, the church, society, books, and 
pleasure, each by turns received his attention — 
each fitly — and time at New London rolled along 
with him, its sands noted as they fell, and glitter- 
ing with promise.* 

* " Possessing genius, taste, and ardor," says Sparks of Hale, 
'' he became distinguished as a scholar ; and, endowed in an 
eminent degree with those graces and gifts of nature which add a 
charm to youthful excellence, he gained universal esteem and con- 
fidence. To high moral worth and irreproachable habits, were 
joined gentleness of manners, an ingenuous disposition, and vigor 
of understanding. No young man of his years put forth a fairer 
promise of future usefulness and celebrity 5 the fortunes of none 
were fostered more sincerely by the generous good wishes of his 
associates, or the hopes and encouraging presages of his superiors.'^ 



CHAPTEE II. 

The Lexington Alarm. Hale gives up his school, and joins the 
army as a volunteer. His motives in doing so. Is stationed for 
awhile at New London. Leaves for Boston. The prospect 
before him. Joins the brigade of General Sullivan. His life 
for six months in the camp around Boston. His skill in military 
discipline — his studies — his amusements — with extracts from his 
Diary. 

Such was Nathan Hale — and so engaged, wlien 
tlie Lexington Alarm, April nineteenth, 1775, 
summoned the country to arms. Upon the arrival 
of the express with the news from Boston, the 
citizens of New London at once assembled in 
town-meeting^ — breathed forth in speeches and 
resolutions their spirit of patriotic resistance — and 
determined that Captain Coit's Independent Com- 
pany, the only uniformed company in the place, 

* Hon. Richard Law, District Judge of Connecticut, and Chief 
Justice of the Superior Court, in the chair. 



44 NATHAN HALE. 

should march, to the scene of hostilities the next 
morning. Hale was among the speakers on this 
occasion. "I was struck," saj^s Captain Eichard 
Law, of New London, from whom the fact is de- 
rived, '' with his noble demeanor, and the em.pha- 
sis with which he addressed the assembly." — ^^ Let 
us march immediately ^^^ said he, ^^and never lay doivn 
our arms until ive ohtain our independence !'^^ And 

* Capt. Richard Law, afterwards in the naval service of the 
Revolution, was at this time a pupil of Hale — and attracted by the 
extraordinary bustle in the town — " partaking," as in his testimony 
now before us he says, " of the general excitement on the arrival 
of the Express," he accompanied his father, the Judge, to the 
Meeting — which was held, according to his belief, " in Miner's 
tavern — in the evening '' — and was " numerously attended." So 
unfamiliar at this time to his youthful ears — as in fact also to the 
ear of the country at large — was the word Independence, in its 
application to the relations between England and her American 
Colonies — and so profoundly impressed was he by the eloquent 
stress with which Hale uttered it, in the connection above stated in 
the text — that, seizing the first moment he could, he most earnestly 
inquired of his father what it meant ! — Brave, ardent, and patri- 
otic, he entered the naval service of his country at the early age 
of fifteen, and was a midshipman on board the frigate Trumbull in 
•her desperate and most remarkable action, June 2d, 1780, with the 



NATHAN HALE. 45 

enrolling at once as a volunteer, lie assembled Ms 
scliool tlie next morning — made his pnpils an 
affectionate address — " gave tliem earnest counsel 
— prayed with them — and shaking each by the 
hand," took his leave. 

It is probable that he soon returned to New 
London — but only to discharge his duties in the 
school temporarily, until he could arrange for a 
permanent connection with the army. This con- 
nection would interrupt his father's cherished pro- 
ject of educating him for the ministry. He wrote, 
therefore, to his parent — stated that " a sense of 
duty urged him to sacrifice everything for his 
country" — and promised, soon as the war was 
ended, to comply with his wishes in regard to a 
profession. The old gentleman was eminently 
patriotic. Many a time thereafter, during the war, 
did he forbid his family to use the wool raised 
upon his farm, that it might be woven into blankets 

British letter-of-marque "Watt. He was the third Collector of the 
port of New London, which office he held for eight years. He 
died Dec. 19th, 1845 — the last survivor of the crew of the 
Trumbull. 



46 N A T H A N H A L E . 

for the army. Many a time did lie sit upon 
his 'stoop,' and watch for weary soldiers as they 
passed his house, that he might take them within, 
and if necessary, feed, and clothe, and lodge them. 
He assented readily to his son's design, and July 
sixth. Hale enlisted as Lieutenant in the third 
company of the seventh Connecticut regiment 
commanded by Colonel Charles Webb."^ On the 
succeeding morning he addressed to the Proprie- 
tors of the Union School the following note : 

" Gentlemen. Having received information that 
a place is allotted me in the army, and being in- 
chned, as I hope, for good reasons, to accept it, I 
am constrained to ask as a favor that which scarce 
anything else would have induced me to, which is, 
to be excused from keeping your school any longer. 
For the purpose of conversing upon this, and of 
procuring another master, some of your number 
think it best there should be a general meeting of 
the proprietors. The time talked of for holding 
it is 6 o'clock this afternoon, at the school-house. 
The year for which I engaged will expire within 



* Of Stamford, Connecticut. 



XATHAX HALE. 47 

a fortnight, so that my quitting a few days sooner, 
I hope, will subject you to no great incon- 
venience. 

" School keeping is a business of which I was 
always fond, but since my residence in this town, 
everything has conspired to render it more agTee- 
able. I have thought much of never quitting it 
but with life, but at present there seems an oppor- 
tunity for more extended public service. 

'' The kindness expressed to me by the people 
of the place, but especially the proprietors of the 
school, will always be very gratefully remembered 
by, gentlemen, with respect, your humble servant. 

Nathan Hale. 

"Friday, July 7, 1775. To John Winthrop 
Esq., Eichard Law Esq., &c., &c". 

The simple modesty and sincerity with which 
Hale speaks of himself, and his purpose, in the 
preceding letter, are worthy of remark. No bursts 
of patriotic sentiment— no vision of plumes and 
epaulettes— no self-satisfied allusion to that brave 
kinsman of his own, whose name he bore in full, 
and who, in the battle band of the old French 



48 N A T 11 A N HALE. 

War, gallantly gave his life before the bastions of 
Louisburgh.'^ — not even one little bravado about 
himself, his own motives, or his country — though 
these might all have been pardoned to an ardent, 
ambitious youth of twenty-one summers. But 
'' being inclined for good reasons," as he hopes, to 
accept a place allotted him in the army — perceiv- 
ing an opportunity, as it seems to him, "for more 
extended public service " — he asks to be excused 
from " keeping school any longer." Were all soli- 
citations modestly preferred as this of Hale's — 
were all the paths of military glory entered upon 
in a manner as unassuming, and with motives as 
sincere, as those which actuate the youthful hero 
we commemorate, now as he asks to step out on 
the bloody platform of the American Revolution 
— what a world of grandiloquent tongues would 
be hushed to repose, and how surely those wars 

*This kinsman, named Nathan Hale, says the American His- 
torical Magazine for February, 1836, "was slain by the bursting 
of a cannon at the capture of Louisburgh, in the ' old French war,' 
as it is called by aged people. He is noted in the account of the 
battle, as a gallant officer in the Connecticut Line." 



N A T H A N H A L E . 49 

only would occur which league the soldier with 
law, liberty, and truth ! 

The company to which Hale was attached, was 
under the immediate command of Major John 
Latimer. It constituted part of a regiment which 
was raised by order of the General Assembly, in 
1775, both for home defence, and for the protection 
of the country at large — and, until placed under 
the General in chief of the Continental Army, re- 
mained subject to the orders of the Connecticut 
Council of Safety. Here now — of interest to be 
inserted in this place — are the names of its mem- 
bers when Hale first took charge of it — as appears 
from a Pay Eoll at present in the office of the 
Comptroller of State at Hartford. 

John Latimer, Major. 

Nathan Hale, Capt. after 1st Sept. till then Lieut. 

John Belcher, Lieutenant. 

Joseph Hilliard, Lieutenant. 

Joseph Hillard, Lieutenant after 1st September. 

Alpheus Chapman, Ensign after " 

George Hurlburt, Serjeant. 

Joseph Page, " 

Reuben Hewitt, " 

5 



50 



NATHAN HALE 



Ezra Bushnell, Serjeant. 

Stephen Prentice, Corporal till Sept. 1st, then 

Joshua Raymond, Corporal. 

Abraham Avery, " 

Henry Hillard, " 

Zebulon Cheeseborough, " 

Rammerton Sears, Drummer. 



Robert Latimore, Fifer. 

Robert Latimore, Jr., " 
William Bacon, 
Christopher Beebe, 
Amos Butler, 
Richard Booge, 
Charles Brown, 
Jonathan Bowers, 
Asa Baldwine, 
Guy Beck with, 
WiUiam Carver, 
James Comstock, 
Benjamin Comstock, Jun., 
Simeon Cobb, 
Fairbanks Church, 
John Chappell, 
Benjamin Cheeseborough, 
Caleb Couts, 
Reuben Sheamks, 
George Chunks, 



Isaac Hammon, 
William Hatch, 
Samuel Hix, 
Peter Holt, 
Thomas Hicox, 
Elisha Hancock, 
Elisha Johnson, 
Joseph Lovatt, 
David McDowell, 
Abel Miuard, 
Jabez Minard, 
Lawrence Martin, 
Enos Nero, 
Jared Stephens, 
Daniel Talbott, 
Amos Shaw, 
Sias Pawhig, 
John Patton, 



NATHAN HALE. 51 

Peter Cheeseborough, Christopher Woodbridge, 

Edward Clark, James Ward, 

James Dennis, Samuel Woodkind, 

John Dean, Ichabod Young, 

John Dennis, John Holmes, 

Christopher Dean, Joseph Brown, 

Enos Greenfield, Joseph Peters, 

David HiHiouse, Jeremiah Dodge, 

George Hakes, David Baldwine * 

August third, Hale's Company, together with 
that of Captain Shipman, was stationed, by order 
of the Council, at ISTew London, where danger was 
apprehended from British men of war then hover- 
ing on the adjacent coasts. 

August seventeenth, its commander received 
orders from the Council to '' keep regular watches- 

* Of the above Company, seventy-one, including the officers, 
enlisted in July, and three in August. Three died before the third 
day of December, 1775, viz., Corporal Stephen Prentice, Novem- 
ber twenty-second — "William Hatch, November twenty-seventh — 
and Jonathan Bowers, December second. Hale's company, when 
at New York, was augmented to ninety men — its full complement. 
Of those who first engaged under him, according to the testimony 
of Asher Wright, " several were from Windham, New London, 
New Haven, and some from Lonw Island." 



52 NATHAN HALE. 

and guards about his camp, and see that his sold- 
iers were properly exercised, instructed, and kept 
clean, and free from idleness and bad practices." 

September fourth, the Company was ordered by 
the Council, with other troops, "to make such 
intrenchments and works of defence as should be 
directed by the civil authority and field of&cers " 
in New London. 

September fourteenth, in consequence of a letter 
from General "Washington "requiring perempto- 
rily " that all the troops last raised in Connecticut 
should be sent to him, Major Latimer's Company, 
with other troops, was " immediately ordered to 
march to the camp near Boston." 

September twenty-fourth, at Rehoboth, Massa- 
chusetts, one Eliphalet Slack signs a receipt writ- 
ten by Halels own hand^ and in Hale^s own Camp- 
Booh^ for five shillings and tenpence lawful money 
for the use of his house by Major Latimer's 
Company. 

Hale then has been for two months and a half 
attached to the army — has been for about fifty 
days stationed with his Company at New London, 



N A T H A N H A L E . 53 

and is now, September twenty -fourth, in full marcli 
for the " Camp at Boston." 

He has had a brief experience of military drill, 
and Avatches, and intrenchments. He has ex- 
changed the comfortable sleeping chamber for the 
tent — the schoolmaster's satchel for the knapsack 
— the dishes of the quiet house table for the iron 
pot, tin pail, quart runlet, and wooden bowl of the 
camp — the unstinted fare of domestic life for the 
soldier's measured pound of beef, or bit of pork 
and pound of flour — and a salary of seventy 
pounds a j^ear and six shilliDgs a quarter addi- 
tional for teaching girls, for forty-eight pounds a 
year wages as Lieutenant, fifty-two shillings of 
enlistment bounty, and " sixpence a day as billet- 
ing money until provided for by the Colony stores." 
He is a soldier of the Continental Line ! A usurp- 
ing king, thousands of miles away, was threaten- 
ing to clutch the hard earnings of three millions 
of Colonists, who worshipped God, toiled with 
honesty, and liked some liberty to think and act 
for themselves, and gather a little treasure for their 
old age, and for their biers — and Hale was bent 



54 N A T H A N H A L E . 

on struggling for this liberty. Thrice already, for 
the same glorious purpose — destined in its career 
of accomplishment to splinter thrones and rock 
the world — thrice had his countrymen met the 
shock of battle, and poured their blood — at Lex- 
ington — Concord — and when they made 

" That silent, moonlight march to Bunker Hill, 

With spades, and swords, bold hearts and ready hands — 
That Spartan step without their flutes ! " 

Hale knew well these themes. An intelligent 
student of his country's history, he was familiar 
with its ' traces of blood and prayer ' from Plym- 
outh down to Bunker Hill. A patriot, he felt 

" the thrill 
That thoughts of well-loved homes, and streams, and lands 
Awaken — " 

and he is "going into the fight! " 

September twenty-eighth, he reached his station 
at the foot of Winter Hill near Medford, where he 
remained steadily encamped, in the brigade of 
General Sullivan, till the twentv-third of Decern- 



NATHAN HALE. 55 

ber succeeding, on which day lie started on foot 
with Lieutenant Sage, through snow 'ancle deep,' 
on a visit to his friends in Connecticut. January 
twenty-seventh, he returned to camp, having in 
the interim, January first, 1776, received a commis- 
sion from Congress appointing him Captain in the 
nineteenth Regiment of Foot commanded by 
Colonel Charles Webb.'^ January thirtieth, he 
removed from Winter Hill to Roxbury, and was 
attached to the brigade of General Spencer, where 
he remained until the April succeeding, when with 
the troops under General Heath, he removed, by 
way of Norwich, Connecticut, to New York. 

* It is probable that on his visit to Connecticut he went to New 
Haven — since that Officer of the medical staff in the army quoted 
on page eighteen of this volume, thus pleasantly testifies respecting 
him : " Hale remarked to my father, that he was offered a com- 
mission in the service of his country, and exclaimed, ^Dulce et de- 
corum est pro patria mori.^ These were some of the last expres- 
sions I ever heard fall from his lips. The remarks of my father, 
after Hale left the house, were, ' That man is a diamond of the 
•first water, calculated to excel in any station he assumes. He is a 
gentleman and a scholar, and last, though not least of his qualifi- 
cations, a Christian ! " 



56 NATHAN HALE. 

His history during this period of about six 
months, from the last of September 1775, to April 
1776, in the ' Camp around Boston,' is marked by 
no highly conspicuous event. We have no mili- 
tary successes, of dazzling splendor, in which he 
acted a part, to record. The American army, as 
is well known, during this time was not drawn 
out in battle array. There was no combination 
of hosts upon the field. All was siege and coun- 
terplot — one army in a city, shut in from every 
direction but the sea, another around that city 
building intrenchments, mounting batteries, and 
striving by means of storming parties, by distant 
cannonading, and by straitening supplies, to drive 
off the invader. 

Hale's post, however, was one frequentl}' of 
much peril, and his labors at times were very 
arduous. " I see you are stationed," writes one of 
his friends* to him, October ninth, " in the mouth 

* Gilbert Saltonstall — a grandson of Gov. Gurdon Saltonstall of 
Connecticut — a graduate in 1770, of Harvard College — and a pat- 
riot of high intelligence, ardor and virtue. He became a Cap- 
tain of INIarincs in the service of his country, and in this capacity 



NATHAN HALE. 57 

of danger. I look upon your situation as more 
perilous than any other in the camp." The ene- 
my were constantly making sorties — and in the 
direction, particularly, in which Hale was encamp- 
ed — for cattle, for provisions, and to weaken the 
American lines. They hurled shot and shells al- 
most daily — ^from the Boston Common, from 
Copp's Hill, from Bunker's Hill, and from their 
floating batteries — upon the American force. The 
strictest watch was therefore necessary against 
surprise, and in this duty Hale participated ac- 
tively. " Mounted picket guard — mounted main 
guard — slept little or none" — such are frequent 
entries in a Diary which he kept during most of 
this period, and which is fortunately preserved.* 

served in the famous engagement between the Trimibull and the 
Watt — in which he was wounded. At the period now under con- 
sideration, his correspondence with Hale was particularly active, 
well-informed, and genial. He kept Hale accurately acquainted 
with everything of importance that transpired in New London, 
whether civil, military, or social — and communicated much also 
respecting public affairs in Connecticut, and elsewhere North and 
South of this State. How do we miss here Hale's replies ! 

*We give it entire in the Appendix to this Volume. See App. G. 



58 NATHAN HALE. 

In charge often of an advance station, he was 
sometimes so near the enemy that he could hear 
them at work with their pickaxes, and his men 
conld distinguish their countersign* as it echoed 
from their Grand Eounds faintly through the mid- 
night. Once, probably, exposed to a hot fire 
from a ship in the bay and a floating battery, he 
marched down to repulse the British from a land- 
ing at Lechmere's Point. The following is his 
own account of the affair, November ninth, 
Thursday. 

'' 1 o'cl. P. M. An alarm. The Eegulars land- 
ed at Lechmere's Point, to take off cattle. Our 
works were immediately all manned, and a de- 
tachment sent to receive them, who were obliged, 
it being high water, to wade through water near 
waist high. "While the enemy were landing, we 
gave them a constant cannonade from Prospect 
Hill. Our party having got on to the point, 
marched in two columns, one on each side of the 
hill, with a view to surround the enemy, but upon 
the first appearance of them, they made their boats 



Hamilton. 



N A T H A N H A L E . 59 

as fast as possible. While our men were marcli- 
ing on to the point, they were exposed to a hot 
fire from a ship in the bay and a floating battery 
— also after they had passed the Hill. A few 
shot were fired from Bunker's Hill. The dam- 
age on our side is the loss of one rifleman taken, 
and 3 men wounded, one badly, and it is thought 
10 or more cattle carried off. The Rifleman taken 
was drunk in a tent, in which he and the one who 
received the worst wound were placed to take 
care of the cattle, horses &c., and give notice in 
case the enemy should make an attempt upon 
them. The tent they were in was taken. "What 
the loss was on the side of the enemy we cannot 
3''et determine." 

With the exception, perhaps, of the affair just 
narrated — and during the erection by his com- 
pany, the succeeding spring, of a breastwork in 
Dorchester, in a situation very much exposed to 
British balls — and once also in a trip to one of 
the islands in Boston harbor to carry off stock — 
Hale does not seem to have been thrown, during 
his stay around Boston, into any particular col- 



60 NATHAN HALE. 

lision with, the enemy. Yet he had opportunities 
to distinguish himself, and did so, in other ways ; 
and particularly in the care he took to prepare 
his men, by careful discipline within the camp, 
for the onsets of the battle field — a duty urgently 
demanded in an army raw and restless under 
restraint as the American army was when first 
collected. 

" It is of the utmost importance," he enters in 
his Diary, November sixth, " that an officer should 
be anxious to know his duty, but of greater that 
he should carefully perform what he does know. 
The present irregular state of the army is owing 
to a capital neglect in both of these [points.]" — 
" Studied," he enters November seventh, " the 
method of forming a regiment for a review, [the] 
manner of arraying the companies, also of march- 
ing round the reviewing officers " — and he pro- 
ceeds to write down carefully and at length 
minute directions, from the General Orders, for 
the guards. The knowledge of the military 
art which it is thus obvious Hale took pains to 
secure, he was able to apply in a manner highly 



NATHAN HALE. 61 

conducive to the public good. His own company, 
from the skill and taste with which he managed 
it, soon became a model for others, particularly in 
the adoption of a simple uniform — an example 
which was noticed with applause by officers and 
companies generally, and which was extensively 
followed.^ 

When in November, 1775, the army was threat- 
ened with dissolution by the expiration of enlist- 
ments. Hale rendered conspicuous service. He 
cheered General Lee, and other officers, when 
sadly cast down by the prospect, and going around 
in person to the men, urged them, by every pat- 
riotic consideration which he could address, to 
remain and fight the battles of their country — 
and not content with this, in the case of his own 
company, promising them his own wages if they 
would tarry for a given period, nobly and promptly 

* Hale drew up a set of instructions for his company — regula- 
ting their carriage and demeanor as well off as when on duty — 
which was placed in the hands of each one under his command. A 
part of these instructions we have seen in his own handwriting — 
on a paper now much mutilated. 
6 



62 NATHAN HALE. 

redeemed liis pledge by borrowiDg tbe money of 
a brother officer on the credit of his own advance 
pay. Here is an entry which he made of the fact, 
in part, Tuesday, November twenty-eighth, 1775, 
in his Diary* — which we give, with his name 
appended, to serve also as a/ac simile oi his hand- 



'Pyr%X<K> 









When Congress had decided upon a new estab- 

* See also his entry December twenty-third. 

t" A fair, legible, manly hand" — says a manuscript before us, 
speaking generally of Hale's handwriting — " strikingly character- 
istic of the mind of the man." The signature is " one of those 
large, distinct, square signatures of olden times, on which the eye 
dwells without pain, as upon the largest print, and of which so 
many fine specimens are found at the foot of the Declaration of 
Independence." 



NATHAN HALE. 63 

lishment, Hale was one of ten officers, who upon 
the first offer of a paper for the purpose, put down 
their names for new commissions, and both in 
camp, and in that journey home to which refer- 
ence has already been made, he labored assidu- 
ously to procure recruits. It is obvious that the 
soldiers, particularly of his own company, were 
exceedingly attached to him. He had charge of 
their clothing, their rations, their wages. Many 
are the entries in his Camp-Book of his trips from 
Winter Hill to Cambridge, or Mystic, for money 
and continental stores, and he notes "ill usage 
upon the score of provisions" as the chief reason 
why the soldiers generally, November twenty- 
third, would not extend their term of service. 

When off duty. Hale devoted much time to 
reading and reflection, to history, works of taste, 
and to the newspapers and bulletins of the day. 
A history of Philip, and work of Young's, as 
well as works on the military art, are particularly 
noted in his Diary. A poet of the day, Timothy 
Dwight Junior, availed himself of the young offi- 
cer's literary taste, as well as of his ' politeness 



64 NATHANHALE. 

and benevolence,' to procure subscriptions for his 
poem within the circle of Hale's acquaintance in 
camp. 

Hale maintained also during this period of his 
life an active correspondence. He was thus well 
informed of important events that transpired else- 
where, all of which, as the taking of St. John's, 
the expedition of Arnold, the capture of prizes 
by American privateers, the menaces coastwise of 
the British fleet, he enters in his Diary ; and there 
are many proofs in letters addressed to him, at the 
time,* of a careful and affectionate interest in his 
welfare among a large circle of friends of both 
sexes. In these the ladies are sure to send him 
their love, undisguised half the time by the cold 
phrase of * compliments,' and hope he will " send 
them a line." His male friends seem to long for 
his presence again. The sergeants of his own 
company, subscribing themselves his 'good old 
friends, 't regret services which detach them from 



* Quite a number of these, fortunately, are preserved. 
t e. g. George Hurlburt, one of Hale's sergeants — who seems to 
have been a very active and trustworthy officer, and most warmly 



N A T H A N H A L E . 65 

his society. Some sergeants of other companies 
write to ask ' hirths ' in the army under him* — and 
even among the boys, his former pupils at New 
London, there are those who assure him that, if 
their 'mothers would but consent,' they would 
prefer being with him to "all the pleasures which 
the company of their relatives can afford. "f 

Camp life has its amusements too, as well as its 
'dreadful notes of preparation.' Peaceful games 

attached to Hale. While the latter was on his visit to Connecticut, 
Hurlburt wrote him almost daily, giving him a minute account of 
the state of his company, and yearning for his return. " I hope 
the next time I see you," he added in one of his epistles — panting 
to dislodge the enemy from the metropolis of New England — " it 
will be in Boston^ drinking a glass of wine with me. If we can 
but have a bridge, we shall make a rush to try our courage ! " 

* e. g. Thomas Updike Fosdick, sergeant in SaltonstalPs 
company, then stationed at New London. 

+ e. g. Robert Latimer, in a letter dated New London, Decem- 
ber twentieth, 1775 — who adds, that he should think himself 
" very ungrateful " if he failed to express " the greatest obligations 
to Hale for the care, and kindness, and goodness " he has " so 
often experienced " from him as his instructor — and deprecates any 
criticism of his epistolary composition from one of such " nice dis- 
cernment " as his former master. 



66 N A T H A N H A L E . 

of chance and strength succeed at intervals the 
sounds of 'armorers accomplishing the knights,' 
and 'busy hammers closing rivets up,' and occupy, 
with advantage to the soldier, seasons otherwise of 
inactivity. In these Hale at times participated at 
the period now under consideration, as the follow- 
ing, his own entries, show : 

" Oct. 24. Winter Hill came down to wrestle, 
with a view to find our best for a wrestling match 
to which this hill was stumped by Prospect, to be 
decided on Thursday ensuing. Evening prayers 
omitted for wrestling. 

"Oct. 26. Grand wrestling match — no wager 
laid. 

"Nov. 6. Day chiefly spent in jabber and 
checkers. 

" Nov. 7. Eain pretty hard most of the day — 
spent most of it in the Major's, my own and other 
tents in conversation — (some checkers.) 

" Nov. 8. Cleaned my gun — played some foot- 
ball and some checkers." 

At other times of leisure, Hale occupied himself 
in walks and rides — often to Mystic, to dine with 



NATHAKHALE. 67 

his friend Colonel Hall, or to visit his laundress 
for clothes, or "to get brick and clay for [his] 
chimney " at Winter Hill — sometimes to view the 
works around Boston, at Cobble Hill, Eoxbury, 
and elsewhere — and sometimes "down to Dorches- 
ter with a view to go on upon the point." He 
often called upon his brother officers at Prospect 
Hill, and was to them especially attentive, when, 
as in the case of Major Brooks and Captain Hull, 
they were confined by sickness. He was the fre- 
quent guest of General Putnam at Cambridge — 
dining with him often at his quarters — and stroll- 
ing there to introduce his friends from Connecti- 
cut, as they happened to visit him in camp. Fre- 
quently also at the quarters of General Sullivan, 
General Lee, and General Spencer, he seems to 
have been an especial favorite with these officers. 
They read to him at times their private advices 
from Congress, and consulted with him in much 
confidence about the administration of the army. 
In the midst of all this occupation, military and 
social. Hale never forgot his duties of a religious 
nature. " Captain Hale was a praying man," says 



68 NATHAN HALE. 

Asher Wright.* The services of Sunday, when 
performed in camp, he attended with great regu- 
larity, as the entries in his Diary sho^v^, of which 
the following are specimens : 

" Sab. Oct. 29th. Went to meeting in the barn 
— one exercise. 

" Sunday, [Nov.] 5th, A. M. Mr, Learned pr. 
John, 13. 19. excellentissime. 

" Sabbath Day, 19th. Mr. Bird pr. — one service 
— only beginning after 12 o'cl. Text Esther 8th, 
6. For how can I endure to see the evil that shall 
come upon my people, or how can I endure to see 
the destruction of my kindred? The discourse 
very good — the same as preached to Gen. Wooster, 
his officers and soldiers, at New Haven, and which 



* " He prayed for his first waiter, when he was sick with a fever," 
continues Wright. " This waiter was from New London. His 
father came after him. He recovered after awhile, but when he was 
taken down, Captain Hale was a mind I should take his place. 
And I did, and remained with him till he went on to Long Island." 
— ^Wright was born and brought up in Coventry, but a few rods 
distant from the mansion of Hale's father. He had, therefore, 
known Hale well from his boyhood up, and his affection for him, 
we may here state, was unbounded. 



NATHAN^ HALE. 69 

was again preached at Cambridge a Sabbath or two 
ago — now preached as a farewell discourse. 
" 17th. Sunday. Went to Mistick to meeting." 
So passed, as we have now described, the first 
six months of Hale's life in the Army of the Eev- 
olution — without opportunity "to speak his patri- 
otism in the thunders of victorious battle " — but 
in careful and praiseworthy discharge of all his 
other duties as an officer, a man, and a Christian. 



CHAPTEE III. 

Hale leaves the vicinity of Boston for New York. His gallant 
capture of a British sloop in the East River. His station, occu- 
pation, patriotism, attachments, and characteristic modesty, 
illustrated by letters from his own pen. 

In April, 1776, with the troops under General 
Heath, Hale removed, by way of Norwich, Con- 
necticut, to New York * 

Of the period which follows, down to that 
which is signalized by his death — from April 
1776 to the ensuing September — we have but 
httle to record — for here memorials almost fail us. 
One incident however occurred, which well illus- 
trates the energy and courage of his nature. 

A British Sloop, laden with supplies, was 
anchored in the East Kiver under the sixty-four 

* " Left Dorchester in April, and went to New York — took 
tents at Grand Battery near New York till September — latter 
part of September went to Harlem. Testimony of Asher Wright. 



NATHANHALE. 71 

guns of the British ship of war Asia, Captain 
Vandeput, and Hale formed the bold design of 
capturing the vessel. The following is the account 
of the affair given by Asher Wright, Hale's own 
confidential camp-attendant, to the late Honorable 
Andrew T. Judson, Judge of the United States 
Court for the District of Connecticut. 

"At the hour appointed," describes Wright, 
"the party assembled, and crossed the river in 
their faithful little bark, skimming so lightly over 
the water as to excite no alarm from any quarter. 
They passed cautiously down by the shore to a 
point of land nearest the sloop, where they ceased 
to ply the oar, and waited for the moon to sink 
below the horizon. It was at the dead hour of 
the night, and all was hushed in silence, excepting 
only the watchman on the quarter deck of the 
Asia. His voice came in the breeze, ' All is well,' 
when Captain Hale's men pulled away for the 
sloop, and soon found themselves along side — and 
in an instant more she was boarded, and away she 
came with Captain Hale at the helm, and the 
British tars in the hold ! When she struck the 



72 NATHANHALE. 

wharf, this new commander and his American 
crew were received with three cheers, and soon 
the liberal hand of Captain Hale distributed the 
prize goods to feed the hungry, and clothe the 
naked of our own armj."^ 

Of Hale's station and occupation, otherwise, 
during the period now in question, in New York, 
as well as of his patriotism, attachments, and 
characteristic modesty, some valuable hints are 
furnished in the three following letters, written 
by him in May, June, and August — the last a 
week before the battle of Flatbush — and addressed 
to one of his brothers. Except a portion of the 
second, which is but a repetition of the statements 
of the first, we give them in their chronological order. 

"New York, May 30th, 1776. 
" Dear Brother. 

"Your favor of the 9th of May, and another 

* To this incident Hale's correspondent, E. Marvin, refers, in a 
letter to him from New London, dated June eleventh, 1776. Tlie 
following is the passage : " Am much obliged for your particular 
history of the adventure aboard the prize ; wish you would ac- 
quaint me witli every incident of good or ill fortune which befalls 
you in your course of life. The whole journal I hope some time 
or other to peruse." 



NATHAN HALE. 73 

written at Norwich, I have received — the former 
yesterday. You complain of my neglecting you ; 
I acknowledge it is not wholly without rea- 
son — at the same time I am conscious to have 
written to you more than once or twice within 
this half year. Perhaps my letters have mis- 
carried. 

" I am not on the end of Long Island, but in 
New York, encamped about one mile back of the 
city. We have been on the Island, and spent 
about three weeks there, but since returned. As 
to Brigades: we spent part of the Winter at 
Winter Hill in Gen' Sullivan's — thence we were 
removed to Eoxbury, and annexed to Gen' Spen- 
cer's — ^from thence we came to New York in Gen' 
Heath's ; on our arrival we were put in Gen' Lord 
Sterling's; here we continued a few days, and 
were returned to Gen' Sullivan's; on his being 
sent to the Northward, we were reverted to Lord 
Sterling's, in whose Brigade we now remain. In 
the first detachment to the Northward under Gen' 
Thomson, Webb's regiment was put down; but 

the question being asked whether we had many 
Y 



74 NATHAN HALE. 

seamen, and the reply being yes, we were erased 
and another put down in our place. 

" We have an account of the arrival of Troops 
at Halifax, thence to proceed on their infamous 
errand to some part of America. 

"Maj' Brooks informed me last evening, that 
in conversation with some of the" frequenters at 
Head Quarters, he was told that Gen^ Washington 
had received a packet from one of the sheriffs of 
the city of London, in which was contained the 
Debates at large of both houses of Parliament — 
and what is more, the whole proceedings of the 
Cabinet. The plan of the summer's Campaign in 
America is said to be communicated in full. 
Nothing has yet transpired ; but the prudence of 
our Gen^ we trust will make advantage of the 
Intelligence. Gen^ Gates (formerly Adj^ Gen' now 
Maj' Gen') is gone to Philadelphia, probably to 
communicate the above. 

"Some late accounts from the northward are 
very unfavorable, and would be more so could 
they be depended on. It is reported that a fleet 
has arrived in the River ; upon the first notice of 



N A T H A N H A L E . 75 

which our army thought it prudent to break up 
the siege and retire— that in retreating they were 
attack'd and routed, l^umbers kill'd, the sick, 
most of the cannon and stores taken. The account 
is not authentic : We hope it is not true. 

" It would grieve every good man to consider 
what unnatural monsters we have as it were in 
our bowels, timbers in this Colony, and like- 
wise in the western part of Connecticut, would be 
glad to imbrue their hands in their Country's 
Blood. Facts render this too evident to admit of 
dispute. In this city such as refuse to sign the 
Association have been required to deliver up their 
arms. Several who refused to comply have been 
sent to prison. 

" It is really a critical Period. America beholds 
what she never did before. Allow the whole 
force of our enemy to be but 30,000, and these 
floating on the Ocean, ready to attack the most 
unguarded place. Are they not a formidable 
Foe ? Surely they are." 



76 NATHAN HALE. 

''New Yoek, June 8d, 1776. 
" Dear Brother. 

u * -:f * Continuance or removal from 
here depends wholly npon the operations of the War. 

'' It gives pleasure to every friend of his coun- 
try to observe the health which prevails in our 
army. Dr. Eli (Surgeon of our Keg*) told me a 
few days since, there was not a man in our Eeg* 
but might upon occasion go out with his Firelock. 
Much the same is said of other Kegiments. 

"The army is every day improving in disci- 
pline, and it is hoped will soon be able to meet 
the enemy at any kind of play. My company 
which at first was small, is now increased to 
eighty, and there is a Sergeant recruiting, who, I 
hope, has got the other 10 which completes the 
Company. 

" We are hardly able to judge as to the num- 
bers the British army for the Summer is to con- 
sist of — 'Undoubtedly sufficient to cause us too 
much bloodshed. 

" Gen^ Washing*"" is at the Congress, being sent 
for thither to advise on matters of consequence. 



NATHANHALE. 77 

" I had written you a complete letter in answer 
to your last, but missed the opportunity of send- 
ing it. 

"This will probably find you in Coventry — if 
so remember me to all my friends — particularly 
belonging to the Family. Forget not frequently 
to visit and strongly to represent my duty to our 
good Grandmother Strong. Has she not repeat- 
edly favored us with her tender, most important 
advice? The natural Tie is sufficient, but in- 
creased by so much goodness, our gratitude can- 
not be too sensible. I always with respect 
remember Mr. Huntington, and shall write to 
him if time admits. Pay Mr. Wright a visit for 
me. Tell him Asher is well — he has for some 
time lived with me as a waiter. I am in hopes of 
obtaining him a Furlough soon, that he may have 
opportunity to go home, see his friends, and get 
his Summer clothes. 

*' Asher this moment told me that our Brother 
Joseph Adams was here yesterday to see me, 
when I happened to be out of the way. He is in 

Col. Parson's Eeg^ I intend to see him to-day, 
7-" 



78 NAT H A N HALE. 

and if possible by exchanging get him into my 
company. 

' Yours affectionately, N. Hale. 

"P. S. Sister Rose talked of making me some 
Linen cloth similar to Brown Holland for Sum- 
mer wear. If she has made it desire her to keep 
it for me. My love to her, the Doctor, and little 
Joseph." 

''New York, Aug. 20th, 1776. 
" Dear Brother. 

"I have only time for a hasty letter. Our 
situation has been such this fortnight or more as 
scarce to admit of writing. We have daily 
expected an action — by which means, if any one 
was going, and we had letters written, orders were 
so strict for our tarr3dng in camp that we could 
rarely get leave to go and deliver them. For 
about 6 or 8 days the enemy have been expected 
hourly, whenever the wind and tide in the least 
favored. We keep a particular look out for them 
this morning. The place and manner of attack 
time must determine. The event we leave to 
Heaven. Thanks to God ! we have had time for 



N A I^H A N H A L E . 79 

completing our works and receiving our reinforce- 
ments. The Militia of Connecticut ordered this 
way are mostly arrived. Col. Ward's Eeg^ has 
got in. Troops from the southward are daily 
coming. We hope under G-od, to give a good 
account of the Enemy whenever they choose to 
make the last appeal. 

" Last Friday Night, two of our fire vessels (a 
Sloop and Schooner) made an attempt upon the 
shipping up the River. The night was too dark, 
the wind too slack for the attempt. The Schooner 
which was intended for one of the Ships had got 
by before she discovered them ; but as Pro\'idence 
would have it, she run athwart a bomb-catchy 
which she quickly burned. The Sloop by the 
light of the former discovered the Phoenix — but 
rather too late — however she made shift to grap- 
ple her, but the wind not pro\dng sufficient to 
bring her close along side,, or drive the flames 
immediately on board, the Phoenix after much 
difficulty got her clear by cutting her o^vn rig- 
ging. Serg* Fosdick,* who commanded the above 

* Thomas Updike Fosdick. of Xew London. Connecticut — a 



80 NATHAN HALE. 

sloop, and four of his hands, were of my company, 
the remaining two were of this Keg*. 

" The Gen^ has been pleased to reward their 
bravery with forty dollars each, except the last 
man who quitted the fire Sloop, who had fifty. 
Those on board the Schooner received the same. 

"I must write to some of my other brothers 
lest you should not be at home. Eemain 
'' Your friend and Brother 

" Mr. Enoch Hale." * " K Hale." 

Upon the day succeeding that in which the 
letter last quoted was written, Hale began again 
to note in his Diary — a practice which for some 
time just previous he had omitted — and the fol- 
lowing, in reference to the chief events of this and 
the two succeeding days, are the last brief entries 
which ever flowed from his pen. 

"Aug. 21^^ Heavy Storm at Night. Much 



warm patriot, and a seaman of great skill. While a boy, lie was 
the companion of the celebi'ated traveller Ledyard, on his first 
voyage. He died in 1821, aged seventy-one years. 

* See Appendix, Hale Genealogj', No. 27, for a notice of Enoch 
Hale. 



NATHAN HALE. 81 

and heavy Thunder. Capt. Yan Wyke, a Lieut, 
and Ens. of Col° Mc.Dougall's Keg* kill'd by a 
Shock. Likewise one man in town, belonging to 
a Militia Eeg* of Connecticut. The Storm con- 
tinued for two or three hours, for the greatest part 
of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, 
and the sharpest I ever knew. 

"22^ Thursday. The Enemy landed some 
troops down at the Narrows on Long Island. 

"23^ Friday. Enemy landed more troops — 
News that they had marched up and taken 
Station near Flatbush, their adv^® Gds being on 
this side near the woods — that some of our Eifle- 
men attacked and drove them back from their 
posts, burnt 2 stacks of hay, and it was thought 
kill'd some of them — this about 12 o'cl. at Night. 
Our troops attacked them at their station near 
Elatb. routed and drove them back 1| mile." 

But three daj^s more, and that storm of war 
whose portentous approaches Hale thus hurriedly 
sketches, descended in fury — and we now reach 
the period marked by that great event which 
signalizes his character, and closes his life. 



CHAPTEK lY. 

Circumstances of the American and British armies when Hale 
undertook his fatal mission. The office of a spy — its danger — 
its ignominy. Col. Knowlton commissioned by Gen. Washing- 
ton to procure some one to undertake it. He appeals to Ameri- 
can officers, and to a French serjeant in the army. They all 
refuse, save Hale, who readily volunteers for the duty. His 
fellow-officers warmly remonsti'ate — but in vain. Hale nobly 
persists in his purpose. 

To understand properly the event to which allu- 
sion is made at the close of the last chapter, let us 
look first at the circumstances in which it origin- 
ated. 

The disastrous battle of Long Island had been 
fought,"^ and the American troops, filled with des- 
pair, had retreated to the Island of New York. 

* It does not appear that Hale participated in this battle. He 
was however at the time, on the Long Island side. Asher Wright 
said that in the retreat to New York, one of the last things done 
by him was to bring over Hale's baggage. 



N A T H A N H A L E . 83 

As if the thunder of the British arms had deaf- 
ened their ears to the solicitations of patriotism, 
the militia began to desert by companies, and even 
by entire regiments. Of those that remained, 
fresh as they were from the workshop and the 
field, a large portion was impatient of restraint, 
and clamorous for pay. One-fourth of them were 
on the sick list. One-third were without tents. 
They had clothes, shoes, and blankets, only for a 
summer campaign, and winter was approaching. 
Food and forage were difficult to obtain. The 
military chest was entirely empty of money, and 
had been so for two months. In positive suffering 
then from want of supplies — without confidence — 
without subordination — importunate in com- 
plaints — the American army — fourteen thousand 
only fit for duty — in the early part of September, 
1776, lay stretched along — detached, agitated, and 
full of gloom — from the Battery in Kew York 
far to Kingsbridge. 

And facing them from the extreme southern 
point of Long Island to a point opposite the 
Heights of Harlem — posted at Bedford, Bush wick, 



84 NATHAN HALE. 

Kewtown, Flushing, and Hellgate — ^riding in ships 
and transports whose formidable batteries frowned 
on the American shores from the Narrows to 
Paulus Hook, and up the East Eiver to Flushing 
Bay — was arranged a British army of not less 
than twenty-five thousand men — a land and naval 
force magnificently equipped with artillery, mili- 
tary stores, and warlike materials of every kind, 
for the special purpose, as it was proclaimed, of 
" looking down and ending forever the opposition 
of the rebels " — and which, under the command 
of the most able and distinguished generals, was 
now in the first flush of victory — was haughty, 
emulous, impatient of farther conquest, and confi- 
dent of success. 

What now, under these relative circumstances 
of the two armies, would be Greneral Howe's next 
step ? It was a question, it will be seen at once, 
of infinite moment to Washington, and his enfee- 
bled, dispirited army. Would the British make a 
direct attack upon the city of New York ? Or 
would they land above the city — at Turtle Bay — or 
Horen's Hook ? Or cross from Montresor's Island 



NATHAN HALE. 85 

to Harlem? Or passing higher up the Sound, 
land at Morrisania or Throg's Point — or perhaps, 
saihng around Long Island, land at some point on 
the Main still farther east ? Would they attempt 
above or below Kingsbridge, to cut off the com- 
munication of the American army with the coun- 
try ? Or was it their purpose, moving as they 
did frequently with their ships of war up the 
North Kiver, to make a descent from this direction 
— at Bloomingdale, or elsewhere ? Or would they 
simultaneously land parties on the North River 
side, and the East River side — stretch across New 
York Island, and intrench themselves — and sup- 
porting their flanks with shipping, cut off the divi- 
sions of the American army, and hem in the town ? 
Upon the solution of these questions — with 
regard to which Washington .writes, September 
sixth, " we cannot learn, nor have we been able to 
procure the least information of late " — depended 
at this time the fate of the American army. 
Should it — forced as it then was, in entire uncer- 
tainty as to the real point of attack, to guard very 
extensive lines, Avhose extremities were at least 



86 N A T H A N H A L E . 

sixteen miles apart — should it be concentrated or 
not ? If so, at what point ? Should the cit}^ of 
New York be held and defended at all events, or 
evacuated in whole, or in part ? Should Manhattan 
island — lest a hostile landing at Kingsbridge 
might stake the Eevolution on a single battle 
against a far superior force — be altogether aban- 
doned? Where, and to what extent, should lines 
and works of defence, intrenchments, redoubts, 
batteries, and abattis be established ? 

All these vital points, without precise informa- 
tion as to the enemy's designs, could not be settled. 
In vain to catch some hints of these designs, did 
American scouts venture near the British lines. 
In vain did American eyes strain through the 
darkness, when night settled upon the armies, in 
search of some Hessian deserter, allured by bounty 
land,* who might communicate the intentions of 
the British generals. In vain did American offi- 
cers convene sad and thoughtful around their 
beloved commander, and attempt, from the positions 

* Such had been offered to deserters from the British army. 



N A T H A N H A L E . 87 

of the foe, to work out tlie problem of their 
plan. All places of tlieir own encampment seemed 
almost equally menaced. All points of the Brit- 
ish encampment seemed almost equally supported, 
and ready to disgorge fire and death upon the 
broken-hearted patriots. It was the policy of 
Howe to blind — and thus far he had succeeded. 

Some one, reasoned Washington, must penetrate 
the British camp, and lift this veil of secrecy, or 
the American army is lost — and he communicated 
this opinion to his Board of Officers. The Board 
agreed fully with the views of the Commander-in- 
chief, and Colonel Knowlton was instructed • to 
select some competent person for the hazardous- 
office. 

An office not alone hazardous. What else was 
it ? To appreciate the position of Hale, it is neces- 
say to dwell a moment upon it. It was an 
office also ignominious. In the judgment of every 
civilized nation, in the eye of all national law, the 
use of spies is deemed " a clandestine practice and 
deceit in war." It is a fraud unworthy of an open, 
manly enemy — scarcely redeemed in motive by 



88 NATHAN HALE. 

any exigency of danger — and pregnant witli tlie 
worst miscliief in stimulating, from a sense of 
betrayal, the vengeance of a foe, and in under- 
mining those sentiments of honor, which, like 
shoots of sunlight upon a thunder-clouded sky, 
tend to soften the blackness of war. 

The spy is the companion of darkness. He 
lurks — he hides — or if he moves in the light, it is 
behind walls, in the shadow of trees, in the lone- 
liness of clefts, under the cover of hills, in the 
gloom of ditches, skulking with the owl, the mole, 
or the Indian. Or if he enters the camp of an 
enemy, he insinuates himself, and winds treacher- 
ously into confidence. Caught, his sure penalty 
is the halter. " Nathan Palmer, a lieutenant in 
your King's service," wrote General Putnam from 
his camp at Peekskill to Governor Try on, " was 
taken in my camp as a spy — he was tried as a spy 
— and you may rest assured, Sir, he shall be 
hanged as a spy. P. S. Afternoon. He is hangedJ'' 
This pithy, laconic epistle, communicating the fate 
of one tory agent of the sort of which we speak, 
during our Kevolution, only too truly describes 



N A T H A N H A L E . 89 

the quick aversion, particularly of soldiers, to all 
those who disguisedly enter a military camp to 
bear off its secrets to an enemy, and the instanta- 
neousness almost with which such persons pass 
from capture to the gallows. And yet, notwith- 
standing all this — the employment of a spy in 
some crisis of the last importance, is not judged 
unworthy a great commander. His success is 
thought most meritorious, and is followed, if not 
preceded, by honors and rewards. Only a sove- 
reign may not ordinarily command the service — so 
is it deemed disgraceful — but save from an ene- 
my's subjects, he may accept it when voluntarily 
offered, " without offence to honor or justice."* . 
The exigency of the American army which we 
have just described, would not permit the employ- 
ment, in the service proposed, of any ordinary 
soldier, unpractised in military observation, and 
without skill as a draughtsman — least of all of the 
common mercenary, to whom, allured by the hope 
of large reward, such tasks are usually assigned. 

* Vattel. 
8* 



90 N A T H A N H A L E . 

Accurate estimates of the numbers of ttie enemy, 
of tlieir distribution, of the form and position of 
their various encampments, of their marchings 
and countermarchings, of their concentration at 
one point or another of the instruments of war, 
but more than all of their plan of attack, as de- 
rived from the open report, or the unguarded 
whispers in camp of officers or men — estimates of 
all these things, requiring a quick eye, a cool head, 
a practised pencil, military science, general intelli- 
gence, and pliable address, were to be made. The 
common soldier would not answer the j^urpose, 
and the mercenary might yield to the higher 
seductions of the enemy, and betray his em- 
ployers. 

Knowlton, therefore, appealed to officers — to 
those of his own regiment, and some of others, 
assembled for the purpose — and in the name of the 
Commander-in-chief invited the service. The 
solemn pause which followed his appeal was long 
unbroken — and not strangely. To meet the ene- 
my face to face — boldly to oppose his breast to the 
reeking sabre, the blood-red bayonet, and the 



N A T H A K H A L E. 91 

volleys of battle, and ' ' foremost fighting fall " — here 
was the soldier's true place, and " Honor decked 
the tnrf that wrapped his prostrate clay." But to 
play the spy — the hated spy — and an officer to do 
it! It was too irredeemably humiliating — and 
one after another of the officers present, as Knowl- 
ton repeated his appeal individually, declined. 

His task seemed hopeless. He appealed in his 
extremity, it is said, to a French serjeant who had 
served in the French War, trusting that a sense 
of shame in his breast less poignant, and the spirit, 
in him remarkable, for hazardous adventure, might 
induce him to undertake. " No ! no ! " — ^he replied 
promptly. "I am ready to fight the British at 
any place and time, but I do not feel willing to 
go among them to be hung up like a dog ! " — 
What was to be done ? 

From the group of reluctant, half-resentful offi- 
cers — at the moment when all hope for the enter- 
prise seemed at an end, and the heart of Knowl- 
ton, saddened with the thought of future misfortune, 
was fast yielding to the torture of disappointment 
— there came a voice with the painfully thrilling, 



92 NATHAN HALE. 

yet clieering words — ^^ I will undertake it! " That 
was the voice of Captain Nathan Hale. He had 
come late into the assembly of officers. Scarcely 
yet recovered from a severe illness, his face still 
pale, without his accustomed strength of body, 
yet firm and ardent as ever of soul, he volunteered 
at once, reckless of its danger, and though doubt- 
less appalled, not vanquished by its disgrace, to 
discharge the repudiated trust. 

His family, his fellow- officers, many of them, 
remonstrated at his choice. Young, ardent, edu- 
cated, accomplished, the darling of the soldiery, 
the pride of his commander, why should he put 
life and reputation thus at hazard ? The legitimate 
stratagems of war are " feints and evasions per- 
formed under no disguise — are familiar to com- 
manders — form a part of their plans, and executed 
with tact, exact admiration from the enemy " — but 
who respects the character of a spy, assuming the 
garb of friendship but to betray ? " Did his coun- 
try demand the moral degradation of her sons to 
advance her interests ? " Would he not have 
ample opportunity, in the progress of the war, by 



NATHAN HALE. 93 

exertions daily felt, " to give his talents and his 
life, should it be so ordered, to the sacred cause to 
which he was pledged? " Why then, by one fatal 
act, crush forever " the power and the opportunity 
Heaven offered him for his country's glory, and 
his own happiness ? " Why sadden the hearts of 
his doating parents, his relatives, and friends — 
looking and expecting as they all were to see him 
climb undisguisedly and gracefully the rounds of 
Fame's military ladder — why cloud all this fond 
expectation with the dark martyrdom of a felon ? 
Such were the considerations addressed to Hale, 
with even tearful entreaty, by some of his brother 
soldiers, and by none with more assiduity than 
by General William Hull, then an officer of the 
same grade in the army with Hale, and who for 
three years Hale's companion in College,* and his 
intimate afterwards in the camp, enforced his views 
with all the pride natural to the soldier, and with 
all the warmth of private friendship. Hear Hale's 
reply ! 



*Hull graduated in 1772. 



94 NATHAN HALE. 

^^ I think I owe to my country the accomplishment 
of an olSject so imjpoiiant^ and so much desired hy the 
Commander of her armies — and I know no other 
mode of obtaining the information^ than hy assuming 
a disguise^ and passing into the enemy^s camp. I am 
fully sensible of the consequences of discovery and 
capture in such a situation. But for a year I have 
been attached to the army^ and have not rendered any 
material service^ while receiving a compensation for 
which I make no return. Yet I am not influenced 
by the expectation of promotion or pecuniary reward. 
I wish to be useful^ and every kind of service neces- 
sary for the public good^ becomes honorable by being 
necessary. If the exigencies of my country demand 
a peculiar service^ its claims to the 'performance of that 
service are imperious ! " 

He spoke, says Hull, "with warmtli and 
decision ! " 

What grandeur of self-sacrifice — what appreci- 
ation intense as rare, of the obligations of duty — 
what glorious abandonment of fear even where 
fear is deemed a virtue — what sublime confidence 
in the redeeming power of a holy purpose — im- 



NATHAN HALE. 95 

mortalize these tlie words of the martyr Hale, as 
he respectfully confronts the solicitations of his 
friends, and firmly, movelessly, bolts and bars 
himself within his noble resolution ! 

True, military pride revolts at the disgrace 
which I propose to undergo, he reasons. True, 
the mean death that awaits me with the enemy, 
under the sanction of national law, should I fail 
in the undertaking. True, my kindred, my friends, 
all to whom I am bound by the sweet ties of love, 
may have to mourn my loss in an employment 
from which all dreams of greatness flee. But 
pressing as are all these considerations — delicate 
and hazardous, in every view, as is the task — 
"the soldier should never consult his fears when 
duty calls." 

It is the wish of the Commander-in-chief. 
Would he ask such a service — and from an officer 
— if he did not deem it utterly vital to the army ? 
The gloom which a triumphal foe casts over the 
American cause is awful — if the spy can lift it, 
why not the end sanctify the means, and I that 
spy — I that have not been able hitherto "to render 



96 NATHAN HALE. 

any material service ? " The liberty of three mil- 
lions of people, freshly risen to vindicate their 
rights, and now rocking at hazard in the stormy 
cradle of war, is staked on the particular enterprise 
in prospect. Its solitude, its darkness, its craft, 
its hypocrisy, its waste and sacrifice of the soldier's 
honor, its last horrible penalty — may these not all 
be vindicated by the patriotic spirit with which 
they may be endured, and by the glorious boon 
which it may be the spy's fortune to offer to his 
bleeding, imperilled country ? The importance of 
the service outweighs every other consideration — 
"I go!" And he presented himself to General 
Washington. 



CHAPTEE y. 

Hale, after receiving instructions from Gen. Washington, starts 
upon his expedition, accompanied by Stephen Hempstead, a con- 
fideitial soldier of his own company. They reach Norwalk, 
Connecticut. Hale here assumes a disguise, parts with his com- 
• panion, and leaves for Long Island in the sloop Huntington, Cap- 
tain Pond. Safe passage across the Sound. His journey to 
New York, and its risks. 

Receiving from the Commander -in-cHef par- 
ticular instructions, and a general order upon all 
tlie American sloops or galleys in the Sound to 
convey him across to any point upon Long Island 
which he should designate, Hale, about the mid- 
dle of September, bearing in his hands materials 
for a disguise, and accompanied by Stephen 
Hempstead," a confidential soldier of his own 
company, left the Camp at Harlem Heights, 

* For a sketch of Hempstead, see appendix H. 
9 



98 NATHAN HALE. 

intending to cross tlie sound by the first opportu- 
nity.* 

Many vessels of tlie enemy were at this time 
cruising along East Kiver, and in the Sound. 
Their guns might be heard, at frequent intervals, 
reverberating along the Main as some adventu- 
rous Yankee craft, small boat or galley, glided out 
from some bay or inlet, and provoked pursuit. 
Hostile scouting and forage parties too, lined the 
Long Island shore, and no friendly flag appeared 
— not even one of those little privateering whale- 
boats, whose press-gangs or crews of well armed 
volunteers, so often at this period, and sometimes 
so uncavalierly, annoyed the British and tories — 
until Hale and his companions reached ISTorwalk, 
fifty miles up the Sound on the Connecticut shore. 
Here they found one or two row-galleys, and the 
armed sloop Huntington, commanded by Captain 
Enoch Pond. The sloop, Hale quickly engaged. 

* " I have sent out some reconnoitering parties to gain intelli- 
gence, if possible, of the disposition of the enemy," wrote Wash- 
ington, September sixteenth, to the President of Congress. Was not 
Hale in his mind when he penned this passage ? It would not do, of 
course, for him to specify either the spy, or his mission, in any letter. 



NATHANHALE. 99 

Thus far lie had come upon a friendly shore — 
among his own countrymen — where here and 
there only some powerless tory shrank from his 
sight as he glided by in the undress of a Conti- 
nental officer.^ He was now to pass to a shore 
occupied, or controlled to a great extent, by the 
British and their abettors. How then disguise 
himself? "What character should he assume as 
best calculated to lull suspicion, and promote the 
opportunities he desired ? He decided upon one 
to him perfectly familiar — in which his own expe- 
rience had given him ease and self-possession, and 
which from its unassuming and somewhat itine- 
rant nature, was calculated, in those days when 
men rarely stirred abroad without watchwords and 
passes, to engender confidence, or at least not to 
awaken an active jealousy. He was to play the 
Schoolmaster !f 



* " He had on a frock, when I last saw him, made of white 
hnen, and fringed, such as officers used to wear. He was too good 
looking to go so. He could not deceive. Some scrubby fellow 
ought to have gone." Testimony of Asher Wright. 

t Hempstead says that Hale told him he intended to play " the 



100 NATHAN HALE. 

Stripping off his uniform then, he placed it, 
together with his mihtary commission, and all the 
papers he had with him, public or private, save 
perhaps one to be shortly mentioned, in the hands 
of his companion Hempstead. To these he added 
his silver shoe buckles, remarking that these 
" would not now comport with his character as 
Schoolmaster." His watch also he is reported to 
have handed to his friend, but after a moment of 
reflection to have resumed it, with the declaration 
that "he would risk his watch where he would 
risk his life" — as if satisfied that no treachery 
lurked in that little unostentatious monitor of 
time, especially in the hands of one, 

" Who in some noisy mansion, skilled to rule, 
As village master taught his little school." 

Putting on a plain suit of citizen's brown clothes, 
and a round broad-brimmed hat, and retaining, it 
is said, as an introduction to his assumed calling, 

Dutch Schoolmaster." Probably so — not seriously, however — but 
only by way of jest. He was going into a country thickly inhab- 
itecl by the Dutch. 



NATHAN" HALE. 101 

his college diploma — the classical vellum on which 
the Eeverend Doctor Napthali Dagget had certi- 
fied his Baccalaureate — he leaped on board the 
sloop after the night had 'fallen, bade his friend, 
with a cheerful voice, await his return, or news 
from him at Norwalk, and was soon under way, 
the patriot spy, with a cool head, and a bold 
heart, for the head of Huntington Bay. 

His passage across the Sound was prosperous, 
and about two hours before daybreak, the little 
craft which bore him, gliding midway between 
Eaton and Lloyd's Necks, hove to near the shore 



Sandy J^e 




A. Place where Hale landed, and probable place of his capture. 

of East or Great Neck — an elevated tract of land 

remarkable for its extensive, and picturesque, but 
9* 



102 NATHAN HALE. 

then lonely scenery, on the east side of the harbor 
of Huntington. 

A boat was immediately lowered. Hale took 
his station in the stern, and four stout oarsmen 
propelled him quickly to the shore. The point 
where he landed was a neighborhood known as 
" the Gedars^^ and is still so called at the present 
day. One Jesse Fleet had there a farm — still, we 
understand, in the tenure of his family — and near 
his dwelling stood that also of Widow Rachel 
Chichester, familiarly called " Mother ChiclH^ — who, 
herself a loyalist, made her house a rendezvous, 
somewhat famous, for all the tories of her region. 
Hale passed this dangerous vicinity in safety, and 
following the course of a road which led from the 
beach towards a settlement on the east side of 
Huntington harbor, after about a mile's walk, 
reached, in the centre of a large field, the resi- 
dence of Mr. William Johnson. Attracted by a 
light streaming through a window. Hale, it is 
affirmed on good authority, approached the house 
with a quick and assured step. The door was 
opened by Mr. Johnson himself, who, " after a 



NATHAN HALE. 103 

confidential interview, gave Hale such information 
as his case required, and the comforts also of a 
hearty breakfast, and a bed to rest upon for a few 
hours. " When the morning had somewhat ad- 
vanced," says the account from which we derive 
these facts, "the stranger departed." 

Whither now, particularly — by what routes — 
with what experiences ? Would it not be pleas- 
ant to know ? 

We have no means, however, of tracing his 
progress hence to ISTew York, and back to the 
point of his capture. His risk — his watchfulness- 
— his fatigue — his hurry — ^his delays — his skill of 
imposture — his anxiety of mind — his suffering 
from cold — ^his loss of sleep — his bivouac by the 
rock, the fence, upon the tree or in the ditch — 
his stealthy noting of posts, situations, numbers, 
plans, by the glare of day, or by the dim moon- 
light, or flickering lantern — ^his delusion of pat- 
rols and guards — his conciliation of camps — all 
these the particulars of that vital quest in which 
Hale was engaged, we are left, in the dearth of 
any memorials, to conjecture. 



104 NATHAN HALE. 

Yet we are assured that his survey was. accu- 
rate and successful. We know that, when taken, 
exact drawings of the works of the enemy, with 
accompanying descriptions and notes, were found 
between the soles of his pumps. We know that 
several days elapsed between his departure from 
the American camp and his capture."^ We know 
that before he reached New York, the British Line 
had landed two miles above the city at Kip's Bay 
— that Greneral Howe with one portion of his vic- 
torious troops occupied the town — that General 
Clinton with another portion, higher up, between 
" the seventh and eighth milestones," lay stretched 
across the whole island from the East to the North 
River — while other portions of the foe still cov- 
ered important points upon Long Island, reaching 
from Red Hook to Flushing Bay, and from Brook- 

* " Capt Hale went away — was gone about a fortnight before I 
knew what was become of him. — When he left us, he told me he 
had got to be absent awhile, and wanted I should take care of his 
things, and if the army moved before he returned, have them 
moved too. — When he went away, he did not tell me where he 
was going."' Testimony of Asher Wright. 



NATHAN HALE. 105 

Ijn far back, in patrolling and foraging parties, 
into tlie interior. "We know also that Hale was 
not taken until, having achieved his purpose, he 
was far back on his return to the American camp. 

He must, therefore, have passed through the 
entire British army. It is not difficult then, under 
these circumstances, to conceive his positions and 
occupation. 

He must have encountered on his way English, 
Highlanders, "Waldeckers, and Hessians, tories 
and refugees, British sutlers and marauders, 
armed and unarmed, and been exposed momently 
to the peril of detection. Now by day, as he 
passed through Queen's County, we can see him 
listening from some place of concealment to the 
echo of the British Lighthorse, as they galloped 
past in pursuit of some leading whigs — now watch- 
ing some company of British Foot, as they scoured 
the country in search of grain, or lay quartered 
around some magazine of forage — now, remote 
from the road, interrogating some Cowboy about 
the latest news from camp — now upon the high- 
way communicating with some teamster impressed 



106 NATHAN HALE. 

to carry hay and straw to New York — now in 
some solitary farm-house questioning some billeted 
soldier of the foe over an evening mug of cider. 

Now, as he approached the chief encampments, 
we can see him straining his gaze at squads of 
the enemy as they fortified their field-works, or 
mustered and marched. Now by night he is 
counting at a distance their fires, and listening to 
the hum of their tents, or walking in the black 
hours from watch to watch to receive the secret 
whispers of their fixed sentinels. Now, probably, 
while the badge of loyalty, a red ribbon, or a strip 
of red flannel, streamed from his hat, he ventures 
within the very bosom of their camps, and there, 
smiling the tory, seems to unite heartily in the 
coarse jibe and laugh at the expense of those 
whose cause he served — or catechized, perhaps, in 
his profession as a Schoolmaster by some group 
of jesting Redcoats, 

'" to see how much he knew, 
If he could read and cipher too," 

he responds to all their raillery with a loose grace, 
and specimens of his attainments. 



NATHAX HALE. 107 

Now in tlie city of ISTew York, occupied, every 
street of it, more or less, with British soldiers bil- 
leted in houses left vacant by the whigs, he cau- 
tiously pursues his way — exposed each instant, 
as was every citizen at the time who went abroad, 
to the peril of arrest, and of confinement if his 
loyalty could not at once be made out — or to the 
chance, perhaps, of being hung up at the first 
convenient post, from a misapprehension of his 
character, or a conviction that he sympathized 
with the rebels — or liable to be sent to suffer and 
starve with the Long Island prisoners in the old 
*' Sugar House," from whose fearful gateway the 
"Dead Cart" already bore its daily morning 
freight of victims, six or eight in number — but 
through all these varied positions, at each perilous 
moment for observation, " interpreting all motions, 
looks, and eyes," he resolutely pursues, and works 
out that problem of the British plan given him 
by his beloved Commander-in-chief, whose solu- 
tion, it was thought and hoped, would prove the 
salvation of his country. 



CHAPTER YI. 

Hale starts on his return to the American Camp. Reaches the 
" Cedars," East Neck, Huntington, L. I., where he is captured. 
His behaviour on the occasion. Is carried to New York. The 
great fire in the city at the time. Is immediately taken before 
Gen. Howe. The head-quarters, appearance, and character of 
the British Commander-in-chief. Hale's heroic conduct upon 
his examination. Is condemned as a spy, and is to be hung, " at 
daybreak the next morning." 

From the midst of all these dangers, Hale star- 
ted — undetected and unharmed — on his return to 
the American camp. Crossing the East River, 
probably at Brooklyn, he threaded his way back 
through the woods, and around all the British 
posts and parties upon Long Island, until he 
reached in safety that point on the shore near Hun- 
tington where he first landed, and where it had 
been arranged that a boat of his own countrymen 
should meet him, and set him over to the Connec- 
ticut Main. 



NATHAX HALE. 109 

There lie is now at " the Cedars " — alone. It 
was morning — early — the time of his arrival at 
this point. It was also still — a solitude compared 
with the country he had left behind him. His ear 
could not perceive the echo of one hostile tread, 
nor did he dream, at such a time and place, remote 
as he thought himself from any British station, 
that he could be intercepted. He started forth to 
reconnoitre, expecting behind some sheltering 
headland, in some snug inlet, or within some lit- 
tle channel thick canopied with trees and bushes, 
to find the wished for boat. 

It did not, however, immediately appear — and 
feeling secure in his treble disguise of dress, man- 
ner, and conversation. Hale betook himself for a 
while, according to one account of the transaction, 
to that tory rendezvous of which we have already 
spoken— the tavern of " Mother Chich"*— and 

* Doctor Ray, of Huntington, Long Island, who has given much 
attention to Hale's fate, says that in a few days after Hale left Mr. 
Johnson, having during the intermediate time passed through Long 
Island to New York City and returned by the same route, making 
memoranda of the information he had gathered, he again appeared 



110 NATHAN HALE. 

from this point Avas soon betrayed. According to 
another account, he continued his lookout along 
the shore for the expected boat up to the very 



at the Cedars, and feeling secure in the simplicity of his dress, 
as well as in his disguised manner, and address, entered the 
tavern of Widow Chichester, familiarly called Mother Chich. " A 
number of persons," proceeds Dr. Ray, " were seated in the room, 
and, as he had to wait several hours for the appearance of a boat to 
convey him away, he trusted to his ready powers of conversation 
to make himself agreeable, and to avert suspicion. A moment 
after, a man with a familiar face left the room. 

" Long before the time had elapsed for the arrival of the vessel 
expected by the stranger. Widow Chichester suddenly announced 
to her guests that a strange boat was seen approaching the shore. 
This news produced consternation and scampering among the 
loyalists, while the breast of the stranger thrilled with joy, as he 
left the bar-room for the beach, where the boat had already struck. 
Soon he found himself within range of several muskets pointed at 
him — while a voice cried out, ' Surrender or die ! ' 

"In a moment of surprise he was seized by what proved to be a 
party from a British armed vessel lying around the point of Lloyd's 
neck, out of view from the Cedare. To his mortification and 
astonishment, he discovered among the boat's crew the very per- 
son who had so suddenly left the tavern as he entered the door, and 
whom he now recognized as an unworthy relative. [See App. I.] 

" Longer concealment was useless, and the stranger avowed 



NATHAN HALE. Ill 

moment of liis capture. Be these circumstances 
as they may have been, all the accounts we have 
received agree, in the main, as to the manner in 
in which he was finally seized — and it was as we 
shall now narrate. 

A barge, to all appearance such an one as Hale 
was expecting, quietly impelled, was seen ap- 
proaching the shore. Confident of the friendly 
character of the crew, and expecting to receive 
at once a hearty welcome. Hale walked delibe- 
rately down to the water side — when lo ! to his 
utter surprise, as the barge struck the shore, she 
proved to be British ! 

He attempted at once to retrace his steps. A 
loud summons commanded him to stop. He 
glanced over his shoulder, and saw the whole crew 
now standing erect, and levelling at him with 

himself to be Nathan Hale. He left the American Camp, at 
Harlem Heights, at the request of Gen, Washington, to ascertain 
the condition of the British forces on Long Island. He was taken 
to New York by water, examined by Gen. Howe, and condemned 
to be hung as a spy, which sentence was carried into effect the 
next day with circumstances of aggravated cruelty, by Capt. Cun- 
ningham, the Provost Marshal." 



112 NATHAN HALE. 

their muskets. '' Surrender or die ! " — an imperi- 
ous voice exclaimed. He was close within reacli. 
Their shot would inevitably prove fatal. Escape 
was impossible. He turned, and complying with 
their command, passed on board the barge. The 
guardship to which she belonged — the Halifax, 
Captain Quarme — and from which, it is said, she 
had been sent ashore for water — lay off at a little 
distance, hid from sight by the intervening point 
of Lloyd's Neck.* To the deck of this armed 
vessel Hale was soon transferred — at last, and at 
the very moment when his heart was palpitating 
with triumph at his supposed success — a prisoner. 
'No suspicion at first, it has been stated, was 
entertained of his true character, till he was unfor- 
tunately met and recognised by a fellow-country- 
man and a relative, a tory and renegade, who, divul- 
ging his previous life and actual situation in the 
Continental Army, and corroborating his state- 
ments in part by the production of Hale's college 



* She lay off the east side of the Neck to protect a body of men 
who were employed in cutting wood for the British garrison at New- 
York. So says Thompson, the historian of Long Island. 



N^ATHAN HALE. 113 

diploma, infamously betrayed him. This account, 
we now fully believe, has no foundation in truth"^ 
— but the fact of Hale's arrest at the point describ- 
ed seems well made out, and as his captors strip- 
ped and searched him, the plans and memoranda 
found in his pumps proved his strong accusers.! 

What had he — a plain Schoolmaster — to do 
with laborious profiles of intrenchments, forts, 
field-works, and batteries — and these exact coun- 
terparts of those occupied and manned by the 
roj^al army ? Why write his notes — and in the 
suspicious society of military draughts — in Latin 
— a contrivance, it was thought, disguising and 
unintelligible to the world generally as the myste- 
terious ciphers of correspondence, or the anaglyphs 
of the pyramids ? Why too was the prisoner at 
a point so remote — alone, and hardly day -break — ■ 
and why did he retreat at first with such obvious 
disappointment from his captors ? 



* See on this point. Appendix I. 

t " They stopped him, seai'ched, and found drawings of the works, 

with descriptions in Latin, under the inner sole of the pumps which 

he wore." Testimony of Asher Wright. 
10* 



114 NATHAN HALE. 

Here was an indictment difficult to meet. How 
Hale attempted to meet it at first, we know not — 
probably with ingenious pretences, and the sem- 
blance of simplicity, A\dth careless self-possession, 
and conciliating jocularity. But even the rudest 
sailor could interpret the facts. Hale must be a 
spy. As such Captain Quarme treated him, though 
with kindness, we are assured — won by the noble 
traits of his character, and regretting, as he after- 
wards said, "that so fine a fellow had fallen into 
his power." As such, he soon sent him, as was 
his custom with prisoners, to New York, in one 
of the boats of the Halifax — back, under the guard 
of a detachment of his captors bearing the evi- 
dences of his guilt, to that city, swarming with 
his foes, from which he had just escaped. 

It was Saturday, the twenty-first of September, 
when Hale reached his destination — a day long to 
be remembered in American annals, not only as 
that which decided the fate of the patriot we de- 
scribe, but also for the horror and alarm, from 
another event, in the midst of which his fearful 
sentence was past. New York, that day, after two 



NATHAN HALE. 115 

o'clock in the morning, was on fire. From White- 
hall Slip the devouring element — fanned by a vio- 
lent southwest wind, and unprovided against by 
any force of engines — shooting aloft its hot clouds 
of smoke lurid with sparks, and hurling its fiery 
flakes in every direction among wooden buildings 
— came roaring and leaping along both sides up 
Broadway — mounted the spires of Trinity Church, 
as if to signalize its triumph to the whole adjoining 
country — and in one insufferable wave of blaze^ 
rolled on towards St. Paul's — till beyond, near 
Barclay Street, arrested by the College Green and 
a change of wind, it stopped at last, having laid 
four hundred and ninety-three houses, nearly one- 
third of the city, in ashes. The dark confusion 
of that morning and day as the British soldiers 
fought the flames — the peal of the alarm bells — 
the loud shouting of voices in wonder and terror, 
mingled with the louder roar of timbers, walls, and 
roofs, as they cracked, rocked, and tumbled to the 
ground — had hardly yet subsided — the broad sky 
itself not long lost its startling semblance of confla- 
gration—when the guard with Hale, landing prob- 



116 NATHAN HALE. 

ably at one of the slips of the city, started to seek 
the prisoner's judge, the British Commander-in- 
chief 

General Howe, at this time, had his quarters 
near Turtle Bay, on the East River, at Mount 
Pleasant — the then family seat of James Beek- 
man Esquire, a sterling Whig, who, on the near 
approach of the British army, had retreated with 
his family for security to Esopus. The old man- 
sion which he occupied, and which was subse- 
quently occupied by General Clinton and British 
officers of rank — and among the rest by Andre, 
on the very night before he went up the Hudson 
on his ill-fated expedition — stood three and a 
quarter miles from the present City Park of 
New York, and at the corner of the present 
fifty-first street and first avenue — a spot just dis- 
tant enough from the Provost Jail, and old Sugar 
House, to save the knightly ears of the British 
Commander-in-chief from the wailings of Amer- 
ican prisoners, and the profane echoes of his own 
cavalry in the churches, and yet in convenient 
location to hear the report of his officers, as 



NATHAN HALE. 117 

one after another some captive of note, or citizen 
of questionable loyalty, was brought up from the 
city for examination. The building is still stand- 
ing, mth the original decorations, blue and gold, 
of the room occupied by Greneral Clinton yet un- 
changed — and near it stood a greenhouse — an airy 
apartment, that at the time of which we speak, 
had a shingle roof, was empty of plants, and is 
reported and believed by many descendants of Mr. 
Beekman to have been the spot where Hale re- 
ceived his sentence. Be this as it may, there can 
be no question but that General Howe had his 
quarters at Mount Pleasant at the time of Hale's 
condemnation— and thither, beyond all reasonable 
doubt, to the mansion house, or the green-house 
adjacent, the young captive was taken.* Here 

* Among other proofs of the facts stated in the text are the 
following. 

1. Jerome B. Holgate, in his American Genealogy, says : 
" Three miles from the City Hall [New York] stands an old 
mansion built by James Beekman, and occupied by British officers 
during the war. One room near the head of the stairs was occu- 
pied by Andre, the night before he went up the River, on his ill- 
fated expedition; and (strange Providence !) but a few yards dis- 



118 NATHAN HALE. 

are Lossing's views of these interesting struc- 
tures !* 



tant still stands the green-house where Captain Nathan Hale of 
the American army received his trial and condemnation?'' 

2. Two letters from Hon. James W. Beekman of New York, 
grandson of James Beekman mentioned in the text, and 
present owner of the premises in question. Mr. Beekman has 
carefully scrutinized all the circumstances in the case, and 
as to the Head Quarters of Gen. Howe, at the time under con- 
sideration, says to the writer, " I consider, with you, the fact clearly 
established that they were on the 21st Sept. 1776, at my Grand- 
father's — corner of fifty -first street and first avenue, at present." 
The gardener of James Beekman, John Hanna — who, with his 
wife Jemima, remained on the premises in question, and kept an 
account of the dates of arrival and departure of the various British 
officers who occupied the place — made a cotemporaneous record of 
the fact. Here it is so far as relates to the British commander-in- 
chief. 

*' General Howe commenced months, i 

the 15 of September 1776— 7^ ) 

* " I made the sketch of the green-house," says Lossing, " a few 
days before it fell, with all the glories of the beautiful garden of 
the Beekman mansion, at the touch of the Street Commissioner, 
in July, 1852. — This view of Beekman's mansion is from the 
grounds looking towards East River. The fine lawns and bloom- 
ing gardens are now reticulated by city streets." — When the old 



NATHAN HALE 



119 




THE BBBKMAN MANSION. 



THE GREEN-HOUSE. 



Tall, graceful, dignified, as was General Howe — 
in personal appearance mnch resembling Wash- 
ington, yet with features more pointed, and in 
temper sharp and harsh towards the unfortunate 
patriots who fell in his power — it was not, we may 
believe, without something of awe, and a dark 
anticipation of his fate, that Hale found himself 
ushered into the sombre presence of his judge. 

The charge was soon made — the proof pro- 
duced. What said the youthful prisoner then ? 
Did he explain, prevaricate, deny — throw himself 
on the laws of war, and demand trial by a Court 
Martial — that right accorded to every military 

house was unfortunately to be cut across diagonally by 51st Street, 
Hon. J. W. Beekman safely accomplished its removal. ' I hope,' 
he wrote at that time, '" to preserve it awhile longer." 



120 NATHAN HALE. 

offender save a mutineer? Did he continue still 
to wear the semblance of the Schoolmaster, and 
inventing time, place, and name, resolutely offer 
to prove the genuineness of his profession ? Or 
playing the loyalist and tory, did he supplicate 
to ' swear in ' his hatred of the rebels, and his 
fealty to King George ? Or, taking advantage of 
Howe's thirst for raising provincial troops, and of 
the King's bount}^, in confiscated lands, houses, 
money, and in honors, to those of his countrymen 
who would recruit the rojsl army — did he profess 
his readiness to cooperate thereafter, heartily, "in 
suppressing the unnatural rebellion in North 
America," and at once for this purpose to join the 
company of some "Eoyal American Eegiment," or 
''Prince of Wales' American Volunteers," or 
'' King's American Dragoons" ^'' — a course which, 
doubtless, in the peculiar exigency of the British 
general at that time, would have saved the life of 
the spy, since we find it afterwards protecting even 
such malefactors as robbers and murderers ? f Or, 



* The actual names of American regiments raised during the 
war for the British service. 

t"The provincial corps," or soldiers raised in America, were 



NATHAN HALE. 121 

his young heart crushed and riven by the horror 
of his situation — the memories of home, and love 
of hfe, pleading too keenly and powerfully in his 
bosom — did he appeal to the benignity, the com- 
passion, to the mercy of his judge? 

Nothing — nothing of all this — though his situa- 
tion — so varied are the chances of life, such and 
so many the happy accidents that snatch us from 
the grave — was not yet all bereft of hope. Open 
and sincere as he was by nature — incapable, save 
for the high patriotic end he then pursued, of 
delusion, and already overweary probably of 
the burden of deceit — his conscience too, before 
an august tribunal, and under staggering circum- 
stances, impelling him, too sensitively perhaps, to 
resume his wonted truthful character — Hale 
frankly, and at once, acknowledged his mission — 
confessed himself an American ofl&cer and a spy 

frequently abandoned men, fugitives from justice, who enlisted to 

escape punishment. Even such recruits were hard to be obtained 

at a high bounty ; and if they committed a crime, the officers were 

both to lose them, or give them up to pvmishment — to replace them 

was so difficult." Onderdonk^s Revol. Incidents of Queen^s 

County, p. 182. 

11 



122 NATHAN HALE. 

—proudly yet respectfully stated his success — 
bemoaned that his hope of serving his country 
was now suddenly cut off— and stood calm and 
fearless before his judge — awaiting his decision. 

That decision was soon made. A piece of 
paper — a pen — ink — a few lines — and under the 
initials of "George Eex," and by the hand and 
seal at arms of William Howe Commander-in- 
chief, Wilham Cunningham, Provost Marshal of 
the Koyal Army, was directed to receive into his 
custody the body of Nathan Hale, a captain in 
the rebel army, that day convicted as a spy — and 
further, to see him hung by the neck until dead, 
^' to-morrow-morning at day break."* 



* There can be no doubt that a formal warrant, in purport the 
same with that described in the text, was given by Howe. Such 
appertained to his function as Commander. Such appertained 
to the function of Cunningham as Provost Marshal. Such 
were entered by Cunningham in his Records, which he 
habitually kept for his own justification, and official report. That 
in the text is given, almost verbatim, by Buckingham, the author of 
Revolutionary Tales in the New York Sunday Times — in his 
Sketch of Hale — whether from copy of the actual warrant, or from 
the imagination of what it must have been, we know not. Of its 
substantial correctness, however, we entertain no doubt. 



CHAPTER VII. 

A reflection. Hale unappalled. His confinement after sentence. 
His jailor and executioner, William Cunningham, a Provost 
Marshal of the British Army. Cruel treatment of Hale. His 
gloomy situation. His noble endurance. Writes letters to his 
friends, and prepares himself, sublimely, for the catastrophe. Is 
taken out to die. The brutal Provost Marshal tauntingly de- 
mands from him a dying speech. That speech ! The fatal swing. 

" To-morrow-morning at daybreak ! " How quick 
to die! The sands of life left how few! The 
interval for thought, recollection, for last memori- 
alizing wish, if pity were not turned to stone, how 
cruelly brief ! And yet this suddenness of sen- 
tence — these startling inches only of life's space 
ere the soul's last plunge — forced not one word of 
remonstrance — not a complaining look — not a 
quiver, even involuntary, of fear — from the con- 
demned patriot — and under a strong guard, he 
was borne from the presence of his judge. 



124 NATHAN HALE. 

"Whitlier ? To some barrack, or tent, or build- 
ing adjacent to the quarters of Howe — or to tlie 
Provost ? It is impossible to tell with, any cer- 
tainty — so meagre is History on this point, and 
the few facts she offers are so vague and conflict- 
ing.* If confined near the spot of his condem- 
nation, an armed British guard, of course, paced 



*Tet these facts incline — a few of them strongly — to the Provost 
as the prison of Hale. This building was then in use as a jail. It 
was a receptacle for offenders who were most notorious. It was 
the safest of all places in which to keep a prisoner. It was adja- 
cent to the spot where public executions at this period usually took 
place. Tradition, quite uniformly, points to it as the prison of 
Hale. Two old gentlemen of Lyme, Connecticut, who died sev- 
eral years ago, and who were men of integrity, stated, we are 
assured, that they saw Hale there the night before his execution. 
A Hessian straggler, passing through Coventry just after the event, 
told a Mr. Brigham with whom he staid over night, that he saw 
Hale hung in New York City^ near Chambers [then Barrack] 
street. Upon the whole we are strongly inclined to think that the 
Provost was his prison — and a spot adjoining, the place of execu- 
tion — though the facility with which executions were effected at 
this period — upon a tree, or at a lamp post — at the first convenient 
point — in or out of the presence of the Army — and the distance 
of three miles which intervened between Hale's place of trial and 



NATHANHALE. 125 

around him, and clattered tlieir muskets, and rung 
their dread watchwords in upon his bondage. 
But if taken down to the Provost, as was most 
probably the case, the ear of the captive was filled 
and agonized with other and more afflictive 
sounds — with the echo of bolts and bars through 
black prison vaults — with the ceaseless clank of 
chains — with the wail of captive countrymen of 
his own — and with the felon's muttered curse. 

It was a gloomy, terrific abode indeed — that 
jail — the Provost ! Destined for the more notori- 
ous rebels, civil, naval, and military — it stood 
upon the eastern boundary of the Park, about 
midway, at a time when this enclosure had within 
it neither City Hall or Almshouse. The building 
stands there now — and is the present Hall of Eec- 
ords. Two sentinels guarded, day and night, its 
entrance door. Two more were posted at its first 
and second barricades, which were grated, barred, 
and chained. Others watched at its rear door, or 



the Provost — and the fact that Cunningham often moved about 

with the British army, from place to place — cause our judgment 

in the matter somewhat to waver. 
11* 



126 NATHAN HALE. 

upon platforms on flights of steps which led to 
rooms and cells in the second and third stories. 
Here is the building as it looked at the time !* 




THE PROVOST JAIL. 



It was a small stone structure, nearly square in 
form — and was surrounded by a yard — back of 
which — on the present site of the old Alms- 
house — was a range of barracks — and beyond 
these, on the upper side of Chambers street 
between Broadway and Centre, an old Burying- 
yard, which long served both as a place of execu- 
tion, and as a last resting-place for the dead 
of the neighboring prison. At the time of which 

* From a picture by B. J. Lossing Esquire, who remarks that 
" the northwest chamber, on the second floor, was devoted to offi- 
cers and civilians of liighest rank, and was called, in derision, 
Congress Hall."' 



NATHAN HALE. 127 

we speak, it was under the charge of a Commis- 
sary to whom we have already alluded — William 
Cunningham — a man than whom none more infa- 
mous for cruelty ever disgraced the annals of 
any prison upon earth * Associated as he darkly 
was with the patriot whose fate we commemorate, 
let us pause here just a moment for his portrait. 

A large, lusty Irishman — of rough, forbidding- 
aspect — having served early in life in the British 
Dragoons, he came to New York before the Eev- 
olution, and when the war broke out, becoming 
at once a tory and a renegade, joined Sir William 

* Unless it have been Sergeant O'Keefe, his " deputy in office 
and in cruelty." — " The late venerable John Pintard," writes Los- 
sing, "' related the following anecdote of O'Keefe : As the Amer- 
icans were moving down Chatham to Pearl Street, on the day of 
the British evacuation, O'Keefe thought it time for him to depart. 
A few British subjects, convicted of various crimes, were yet in 
his custody. As he was leaving, one of them inquired, " Ser- 
geant, what is to become of us ?" — " You may all go to the devil," 
he replied, in anger, as he threw the keys upon the floor behind 
him. "Thank you, sergeant," was the answer; "we have had 
too much of your company in this world to follow you to the 
next." 



128 NATHAN HALE. 

Howe, and was by him appointed Provost Mar- 
shal of the British army. Avaricious — cruelly 
so — he at times dosed his prisoners with arsenic 
in their flour, " for the sake of cheating his king 
and country by continuin'g for a time to draw 
their nominal rations."^ Wonted to sit in his 
quarters at the Provost, opposite the guard-room 
on the right hand of the main door, and drink 
punch till his brain was on fire — he would then 
stagger out into the corridors — followed often by 
his negro Kichmond, the common hangman, with 
coils of rope about his neck — and pouring forth 

* He was only restrained from putting them to death in a 
more violent way, it is said, " five or six of them of a night, 
back of the prison yard, by the distress of certain women in the 
neighborhood, who, pained by the cries for mercy which they 
heard, went to the Commander-in-chief, and made the case known, 
with entreaties to spare the lives of the sufferers in future.'^ 
WatsonS'S Olden Times in the City of New York. 

" When flesh and blood were wanting, effigies were often sus- 
pended on that gibbet," says Lossing, speaking of Ctmningham's 
gibbet, in the rear of the Provost — " and for a long time a tolera- 
bly correct portrait of John Hancock might be seen dangling from 
the cross-beams." 



X A THAN HALE. 129 

volleys of tempestuous abuse on the wretched 
sufferers who happened to be outside their cells, 
drive the " dogs," as he called them, back to their 
" kennels," the " rebel spawn," as he varied it, ''in 
to their holes "—or vent his spite, as he passed 
up and down the hall by kicking over vessels of 
soup which the charitable sometimes placed there 
for poor and friendless captives— or clanking his 
keys, reel to the door of the prison, and strain 
his drunken gaze for fresh victims. Such another 
victim— on the night of the twenty-first of Sep- 
tember, 1776 -either at the Provost, or at the 
head quarters of General Howe— he found in 
Captain ISTathan Hale— and such was the ruffian 
jailor and executioner whom Hale found in Wil- 
liam Cunningham! 

On receiving his prisoner, Cunningham, accor- 
ding to his custom, questioned him minutely as 
to his name, rank, size, and age,* read the warrant 
for his death, and ordered him to be rigidly con- 

* " When a prisoner, escorted by soldiers, was led into the hall, 
the whole guard was paraded, and he was delivered over, with all 
formality, to Capl. Cunning-ham or his deputy, and questioned as 



130 NATHAN HALE. 

fined. Hale calmly requested that his hands 
might be unpinioned, and that he might be fur- 
nished with writing materials and a light. He 
wanted, he said, to address a few lines to his 
parents and friends. The request was at first 
brutally refused. He asked for a Bible, that he, 
a dying man, might receive the last holy consola- 
tions of the religion which he professed. This 
request too was met at first with coarse denial — 
with curses too, it is highly probable, on the stu- 
pidity of last hour repentances, and impious taunts 
of tortures beyond the grave for all traitors to 
their king.* But there was one heart near, which 



to his name, rank, size, age, &c., all of which were entered in a 
record-book." Dunlap^s Hist. N. York, Vol. II., p. 137. 

* Cunningham's brutal demeanor is strikingly illustrated in the 
case of another son of Connecticut, the Rev, Moses Mather D. D., 
of Daricn, Conn. This exemplary and distinguished divine, July 
twenty-second, 1781, was taken captive with about forty of his 
congregation, while worshipping on the Sabbath, by a party of 
British troops consisting chiefly of tory refugees, which came 
over from Long Island, and suddenly surrounded the Church. 
The following extract from Barber's Historical Collections of 
Connecticut, shows his subsequent treatment. 



KATHAN HALE. 131 

for a moment tlirobbed with pity for the pris- 
oner — so young, so graceful, so treated, yet so 
mild, so firm, so soon to die, and — alone ! Moved 
in spite of himself, the young Lieutenant of Hale's 
guard interfered in his behalf, it is said, earn- 
estly — and was so far successful as to procure for 
him the privilege of writing. With pen, ink and 
paper therefore, a light, and hands unmanacled, 
he was thrust, late it would seem in the night, 
into some separate abode — some lonely tent — or 
gloomy barrack — or desolate chamber — or grated 
cell — and for awhile, was left to himself 

" Dr. Mather having been taken into New York, was confined 
in the Provost Prison. Here his food was stinted, and wretched 
to a degree not easily imaginable. His lodging corresponded 
with his food. His company, to a considerable extent, was made 
up of mere rabble ; and their conversation, from which he could 
not retreat, was composed of profaneness and ribaldry. Here 
also he was insulted daily by the Provost Marshal, whose name 
was Cunningham — a wretch remembered in this country only 
with detestation. This wretch, with other kinds of abuse, took a 
particular satisfaction in announcing from time to time to Dr. 
Mather, that on that day, the morrow, or some other time at a 
little distance, he was to be executed. 



132 NATHAN HALE. 

There, without a friend — without the solace of 
even one kind word — without the glimmer even 
of a hope of escape — on the verge of an ignomi- 
nious death — for the last time, to transcribe for 
those he loved the deep emotions of his heart ! 

" But Dr. Mather was not without his friends — friends, how- 
ever, who knew nothing of him, except his character. A lady of 
distinction, [the mother of Washington Irving, according to infor- 
mation obtained in Darien,*] having learned his circumstances, 
and having obtained the necessary permission, sent to him clothes 
and food, and comforts, with a very liberal hand. He died Sept. 
21st, 1806, venerated by all who knew him, in the 88th year of 
his age. He was educated at Yale College, of which he was a 
Fellow thirteen years." 

* " The fact you state in a note concerning my mother" — says 
Washington Irving in a letter to the author, Feb. 16th, 1856, "is 
no doubt correct. I know that she was in the practice of relieving 
American prisoners, especially clergymen ; sometimes visiting 
them in person, at other times sending them supplies. I have 
often heard her relate instances of it, and of the kind of surly 
indulgence with which she was treated by the brute Cunningham. 
On one occasion when she asked his permission to send in food 
and raiment to a clergyman just brought in a prisoner — " with all 
my heart madam," was the reply ; " but I would much rather 
you would send him a rope." That was Cunningham's style of 
pleasantry when he was in a gracious mood." 



NATHAN HALE. 133 

There in the dread twilight of eternity — not as 
it creeps mantling with silver over the sick man's 
tended couch — but as it wears the scaffold's 
ghastl}^ hue — to commune with his soul, and with 
his God !— What a night to Hale ! 

The hours flew as seconds. Weeks and months 
to one death-doomed, endure but as single sands 
ebbing in Time's smallest glass. Light runs into 
shade, and shade into light, with scarce a grada- 
tion marked hj that eye on which all light and 
shade are soon to close forever. But quick as 
must have passed to Hale his prison hours, there 
was one to whom these hours doubtless seemed 
laggard — he to whose hands the captive was con- 
signed — and the deeper shadows of the night had 
scarce faded into misty gray, the rose of an 
autumn sun, low and faint, but just begun to blush 
in the east, when the executioner sought his vic- 
tim. It was morning — daybreak — morning too 
of the ' hallowed day' — but War knoAVS no Sab- 
baths — the fatal hour had come ! 

Cunningham found Hale ready. Doubtful it is 

if on that straw, or rug, or coarse blanket, or 
12 



134 NATHAN HALE. 

*' oaken plank," which formed his bed,* he had 
slept at all — the thoughts of home and death 
rushing, as they must have done, impetuously on 
his nerves. He handed the letters he had written 
to the Provost Marshal for ultimate delivery — 
one certainly to his mother — another, it is said, to 
his sisters — a third probably to the lady to whom 
he was betrothed — or perhaps his messages to all 
may have occupied a single letter, or a single 
sheet. Be this as it may, what he had written 
was at once insolently scrutinized by Cunning- 
ham, who, as he read, grew furious at the noble 
spirit which breathed in every line of the compo- 
sition — and for the reason — afterwards given by 
himself — " that the rebels should never hnow they had 
a man who could die ivith such firmness ^''^ he tore 
the paper into shreds, and ordered his victim to 
begin his death march. 



* " An oaken plank, it was our bed, 
And very scanty we were fed." 
From Peter St. John''s account — one of the Provost prison- 
ers^ and captured at Darien^ Conn., with the Rev. Moses Ma- 
ther D. Z>., and others. 



NATHAN HALE. 135 

That march — its accompaniments — the place of 
the scaffold — its preparations — the scene around 
it — these are points upon which history does not 
throw much light, yet enough materially to aid 
conjecture. The general practice in executions, 
at this period, and particularly Cunningham's, we 
have ascertained from various sources.* That 

* In 1782, two British soldiers, named Tench and Porter^ were 
hung at the Wallabout, on a chestnut tree, for robbing and mur- 
dering a farmer of Flushing named James Hedges. Cunning- 
ham presided over the execution, which took place in the presence 
of a large detachment of the British Army. The late venerable 
General Jeremiah Johnson of Brooklyn, L. L, witnessed it, and 
in a letter to the writer describes it as below. The extract we 
give materially aids our conception both of the manner in which 
an execution was conducted in the times of which we speak, and 
of the Provost Marshal, with his black hangman. 

" The execution," writes General Johnson, " was conducted as 
follows. At 10 A. M,, about 1000 men were marched to the 
place of execution, and formed a hollow square, which enclosed 
a large chestnut tree on the land (then) of Martin Schenck. A 
short time after the square was formed, Cunningham, followed by 
his mulatto negro hangman^ who carried a ladder and cords, 
entered the square. The negro placed the ladder against an hor- 
izontal limb of the tree, which was about 15 feet from the ground. 



136 NATHAN HALE. 

they were conducted chiefly in an old graveyard 
near the Provost, in Chambers [then Barrack] 
Street, is a fact well made out. It is probable, 
therefore, that this was the spot of Hale's suffer- 
ing — though it may have been elsewhere — above 
the city — and on some tree near the place of his 
trial. As a spy, his execution would, of course, 
be public — we know that it was so — would be 
attended with the ordinary formalities — all that 

He then ascended the ladder, and adjusted one halter. He then 
moved the ladder about four feet, and adjusted the second halter. 
The nooses dropped about five feet. A short time after the hal- 
ters were adjusted, the criminals were escorted into the square. 
Their arms were pinioned, and they were dressed in white jack- 
ets, and white overhauls, and they wore white caps. Tench 
ascended the ladder first, and the hangman stepped up close 
behind him, and fixed the halter around the culprit's neck, drew 
the cap over his face, descended, and immediately turned the man 
off the ladder, when he hung about five feet above ground. 
The ladder was then placed at the second halter. Porter 
ascended the steps firmly, followed by the negro, who fixed the 
halter, drew down the cap, descended, and immediately turned 
Porter off towards Tench, The bodies struck against each other, 
and dangled some time before they were still. The men strug- 
gled little in dying. 



NATHAN" HALE. 137 

were calculated to strike terror — and with, many 
in addition, for the purpose of accumulating dis- 
grace — and in the case under consideration, we 
know, luas accompanied with every contrivance 
which brutality could suggest to wound the sensi- 
bilities of the victim.^ 

" The field and staff officers were stationed inside the square. 
After the execution, I saw Cunningham go to the commanding 
officer (said to be Grey,) to whom I suppose he reported, and who 
appeared to treat him with contempt. The troops marched off to 
their camp. The dead bodies were tal<en down, and buried under 
the ti'ee." 

* Among other testimony in proof of the fact stated in the text 
is the following. Tunis Bogart, an honest farmer of Long 
Island, who for five weeks remained impressed as a wagoner in 
the British service, witnessed Hale's execution. In 1784, being 
asked to witness another execution then about to take place, he 
replied : " No — I have seen one man hung, a spy, [alluding to 
Hale,] and that's enough for me. I have never been able to 
efface the scene of horror from my mind — it rises up to my 
imagination always. That old ' Devil Catcher ' Cunningham was 
so brutal, and hung him up as a butcher would a calf! The 
women sobbed aloud, and Cunningham swore at them for it, and 
told them they would likely enough themselves come to the same 
fate." 

12* 



138 NATHAN HALE. 

His arms then, probably, pinioned close behind 
him — over his body a coarse white gown or 
jacket trimmed with black, the winding sheet of 
the scaffold — on his head a cap of white, trimmed 
too with black — near him a box of rongh pine 
boards, his coffin, borne in a cart, or upon the 
shoulders of attendants — before him a guard lead- 
ing the way — ^behind him another guard with 
loaded muskets and fixed bayonets — in the rear 
of these Cunningham himself, with other officers, 
as formal witnesses of the event — and near, 
mulatto Eichmond, the common hangman of the 
Provost, bearing a ladder, and with a coil of rope 
about his neck — such were the circumstances, it 
may fairly be presumed, under which Hale moved 
to the place of his execution — there where some 
tree sent out from its ill-omened trunk a rigid 
horizontal limb, or where from among the bones 
of those already dead, two straight poles, sup- 
porting a cross beam in their crotches, shot into 
the air — and where, just beneath, a heap of earth, 
thrown freshly out, marked a new-made grave. 

Early morning as it was, the sun hardly risen, 



NATHAN HALE. 139 

yet quite a crowd was collected around the spot — 
many whom the fire in the city had kept out of 
their beds all night — ^men and women — a few 
American wagoners, who, impressed from Long 
Island into the British forage service, happened 
to be in town — some soldiers and oflS.cers of the 
royal army, and among these last that of&cer of 
the British Commissariat Department, whose sub- 
sequent narrative of the circumstances to General 
Hull forms one of our chief sources of informa- 
tion. But in all that crowd there was not one 
face familiar to Hale — not one voice to whisper a 
word of consolation to his dying agony. Yet 
though without a friend whom he knew — though 
denied that privilege granted usually to the mean- 
est criminal, the attendance of a chaplain — though 
degraded by every external mark of ignominy — 
yet did his spirit not give way. His gait, as he 
approached the gallows, in spite of his pinioned 
arms, was upright and steady. No offending 
soldier to whom the choicer penalty has been 
assigned to receive the shot of his comrades, ever, 
in the midst of sympathy, and with the consci- 



140 NATHAN HALE. 

ousness that he was allowed at least a soldier's 
deathj marched more firmly to kneel upon his 
coffin than did Hale to meet the felon's doom. 
Through all the horror of his situation he main- 
tained a deportment so dignified, a resolution so 
calm, a spirit so exalted by Christian readiness 
to meet his fate, and by the consciousness of 
duty done, and done in the holy cause of his 
country, that his face, we cannot but think, 
must have worn almost the aspect of a ser- 
aph's — lifted as it was at frequent intervals to 
heaven, and so radiant with hope, heroism, and 
resignation. 

Thus looking, he stood at last — the few simple 
preparations being ended — elevated on one of the 
rounds of the gallows ladder — ready for the fatal 
fall. The coarse voice of Cunningham, whose 
eye watched every arrangement, was now heard 
scoffingly demanding from his victim his dying 
speech and confession^ — as if hoping that the 



* That such a demand was made by Cunningham, rests chiefly 
on the statement of the late 11. A. Buckingham Esq., of New 
York. He assured us that lie received it from unquestionable 



NATHAN HALE. 141 

chaos of Hale's soul at that awful moment. 



would lead him to utter some remark, strange 
or ridiculous, which might serve to glut the 
curiosity of the crowd, or be remembered as a 
kind of self-made epitaph by a ^ rebel captain/ 
Never was torturer more cheated of his pur- 
pose — never a victim endowed with utterance 
more sublime ! One glance, it is said, at Cun- 
ningham — one slight momentary contraction of 
his features into contempt — and he turned his 
look, filled again with holy energy and sweetness 
upon the spectators — now impressed, most of 
them, with solemn awe — and some of them, the 
females, not forbearing to sob aloud. With a 
voice full, distinct, slow — which came mournfully 
thrilling from the very depths of his being — in 
words which patriotism will forever enshrine, and 

authority, having consulted, as we know he did, very many aged 
persons in New York who were conversant with it, and with some 
other particulars regarding the execution of Hale. We see no 
reason to doubt the statement, but on the other hand, we perceive 
everything in the character and conduct of Cunningham to cor- 
roborate it amply. 



142 NATHAN HALE. 

every monument to Hale's memory sink deepest 
into its stone, and every temple of liberty blazon 
highest on its entablature — at the very moment 
when the tightening knotted cord was to crush 
the life from his young body forever — he ejacu- 
lated — as the last immortal testament of his he- 
roic soul to the world he was leaving — 

"3 onl2 regret tijat 3 Ijavt but out life to lose 
for mg coutttrg!'* 

Maddened to hear a sentiment so sublime burst 
from the lips of the sufferer, and to witness visi- 
ble signs of sympathy among the crowd, Cun- 
ningham instantly shouted for the catastrophe to 
close. — '' Swing the rebel off!" — we conceive y\^e 
hear him vociferating even now — "swing him 
off!" The ladder disappeared — the cord strained 
from the creaking beam or bough — and with a 
sudden jerk, the body of Hale dangled convul- 
sively in the air. A few minutes fluttering to 
and fro — a few heavings of its noble chest — its 



NATHAN HALE. 143 

manly limbs at moments sharply bent by the 
pang — it at last hung straight and motionless from 
its support. 

All was still as the chambers of death 

ai}e jSoul of t\]t iJIartgr l)alr fl^ir! 



1 



CHAPTEE YIII. 

Effect of Hale's death — upon Gen. Washington — upon the Ameri- 
can army — upon his relatives, and friends elsewhere — upon his 
camp attendant, Asher Wright. Deep and general mourning. 
The Hale Monument Association. Tlie Monument. Extracts 
from poetry in memory of Hale. An epitaph by a friend. 
Comparison between Hale and Andre. Conclusion. 

The death of Hale was deemed of sufficient 
importance, in the British army, to demand its 
formal notification to the American Commander- 
in-chief. From a motive probably of military 
policy — that the capture and summary execution, 
at the hands of British vigilance, of an American 
spy, might operate as an example and a warning 
upon the American army — Colonel Montaznar of 
the royal forces was deputed, under a flag of truce, 
to announce the event to General Washington. 
He fulfilled his mission. The melancholy tidings 
were received — with what sorrow, with what sym- 



NATHAN HALE. 145 

pathy, on tlie part of the Commander-in-cliief, we 
are left in great degree to conjecture. Washing- 
ton's grief, however, must have been profound — 
for he was a man himself instinct with sensibility, 
and Hale, we learn from various sources, was one 
of his favorites. In the camp at Cambridge, he 
had met him in the tents of those generals in the 
army with whom Hale was familiar, and at vari- 
ous places upon the field of encampment, and at 
his own Head Quarters. He had noticed particu- 
larly his skill in discipline, and the excellent 
appearance of his company on parade — and was 
gratified with the numerous evidences which the 
young officer gave of intelligence, patriotism, and 
activity. Moreover, it was at his own instigation 
that Hale had been employed upon the perilous 
mission in which he had lost his life. 

A cloud then, we doubt not, settled on his spirits 
when the report first reached him of Hale's fate — 
and upon the spirits too of the American army 
generally, wherever, from rank to rank, from 
soldier to soldier, the sad news was circulated. 

Hale's acquaintances in camp were very numerous. 
13 



146 NATHAN HALE. 

The soldiers of his own regiment all knew him. 
He was known also to many of other regiments. 
He had many intimate friends among the officers. 
All loved him. The blow which severed him from 
his military companions, therefore, was extensively 
felt, and was universally lamented. And to his 
own family — to his doating parents particularly,* 
arid a large circle of relatives and friends, to whom 
he was clasped in affection by hooks of steel — 
what a bereavement! Every face, within this 
circle particularly, 

" Bearing its deadly sorrow charactei'ed," 

was a face of despondency. Death could hardly 
have struck down a more shining mark — its fatal 
dart have hardly pierced one nobler bosom — its 
rude, inexorable blast have scarcely nipped one 
fairer bud of promise, f But upon no one did the 

* " It almost killed his father and mother," said a lady, who 
witnessed their agony, to the late Professor Kingsley of Yale Col- 
lege, our informant. 

t" Those who knew Capt. Hale in New London," says Miss 
Caulkins in her History of this town, " have described him as a 



NATHAN HALE. 147 

news fall with more st arming effect than upon 
poor Asher Wright — Hale's faithful attendant in 
camp. It completely nnstrung his nerves. It 
impaired his self-control. And he wore the pall 
of a somewhat shattered understanding down to 
his grave.* Back to the mansion of Deacon 

man of many agreeable qualities -, frank and independent in his 
bearing ; social, animated, ardent, a lover of the society of ladies, 
and a favorite among them. Many a fair cheek was wet with bit- 
ter tears, and gentle voices uttered deep execrations on his barbar- 
ous foes, when tidings of his untimely fate were received." 

* We commend the following extracts from a letter addressed to 
us by the Secretary of the Hale Monument Association, J. W. 
Boynton Esq., of Coventry, to the notice of the Reader. They 
furnish very interesting particulars about " poor Asher." 

" It is said that "Wright was never in a sound mind after the sad 
fate of Hale was made known to him. He was left in charge of 
Hale's uniform, at his quarters in New York. When the British 
crossed over to the city, W^right had much difficulty in obtaining 
a team to remove the effects of Hale, and came near being taken, 
and often said that he would not have left without the effects, 
although he might have been captured by the British. 

" Wright did not return to Coventry for some years after he 
was discharged from service, and it was ever supposed that the fate 
of Hale, and the deranged state of mind consequent upon it, were 



148 IvTATHAN HALE. 

Eichard Hale, on his return to Coventry, he bore 
treasured memorials of his beloved employer — 
some articles which Hale, when he last parted 
with him, had left in his custody — and among 
.these, particularly, Hale's Camp-Bashet and Carap- 
Booh — pictures of which the print opposite accu- 
rately presents — and Avhich, now that we are indit- 
ing this paragraph, melancholy remembrancers 
indeed, rest upon the table by our side. How 
vividly do they call up the image of the youthful 
martyr — how bring 

" Back on the heart the weight that it would fling 
Aside forever " — 

the causes. Until the last years of his life he could not converse 
upon the subject without weeping. 

"His grave is about 150 feet directly north of the monument 
of Hale, and about 30 feet north-west of the graves of the Hale 
family; and a plain marble slab, erected by his administrator, 
bears the following inscription : 

ASHER \%^RIGHT 

A REVOLUTIONARY 

SOLDIER AND 

ATTENDANTOF 

Captain Natlian Hale, 




R PES DEL. LiTH OC E S .X 

HALE'S CAM P- BASKIT AN D CAM P- BOOK o 



NATHAN HALE. 149 

yet a weiglit not all made up of sadness, but rain- 
bow-tinted at least witli one inspiring joy — joy 
that our Country, in one of her agonies of dis- 
tress — when she stretched out her shattered 
imploring hands for a service from which all others 
shrank away — found one Soul from the russet 
shades of old Connecticut heroic enough, taking 
the cross upon his own shoulders, for her sake to 
do, and dare, and die ! * 

That in the midst of a grief so general and 
poignant as that which we describe, so little pub- 

DIED 

June 20th 1844 

AGED 90. 

" Asher Wright received a pension of $96 per annum, David 
Hale, of New York, was at all times rendering assistance to him, 
not only by a needful supply of provisions, but also by repairs upon 
his dwelling house. He was also often remembered by Mr. Hale's 
family in seasonable donations of clothing, &c. &c." 

*The Camp-Basket is made of ozier, neatly intertwined. It is 

divided into two compartments by a partition in the centre. The 

interior is carefully lined with plaited straw, and fragments of glass, 

the debris of bottles, that when whole belonged to Hale, still 

remain within it. 

13* 



150 NATHAN HALE. 

lie record should have been preserved of a man 
so note-worthy as Hale, excites our surprise.* 
Strange that he should not have been signalized, 
in his own day and time, by appropriate obsequies, 
by funereal devices, by solemn eulogies, by reso- 
lutions expressive of his merits, by tablets of brass, 
and durable monuments of stone. Surely no one 
of all those who shed their blood for the glorious 
liberty we now enjoy, better deserved to have 
been thus commemorated — for upon no one, save 
himself, devolved a task so perilous, bitter, and 
fatal. Thirty-three years after his death, a fort in 



* Take the following specimens of the meagreness of records. 1 . 
Extract from a letter of an American officer to his friend, dated 
Harlem, September twenty-sixth, 1776, and published in the Bos- 
ton Gazette, October seventh, 1776 — " One Hale, on suspicion of 
being a spy, was taken up, and dragged without ceremony to the 
execution post, and hung up." 2. Extract from a letter written 
September twenty-fifth, 1776, by James Drewett, on board the 
British frigate Mercury — " On the 22nd w-e hung a man who was 
sent as a spy by Gen. Washington." 3. Extract from a letter 
written by a British officer, and published In the Middlesex [Lon- 
don] Journal, No. 1196, December, 1776 — " New York Island, 
Sept. 23, 1776. Yesterday we hanged an officer of the Provin- 
cials who came as a spy." 



NATHAN HALE. 151 

the harbor of New Haven, Connecticut — bnilt of 
brick upon an insulated rock, two miles from the 
end of Long wharf— was called after the hero — 
" Fort Hahr But it has been long ungarrisoned, 
and in decay * A nobler memorial than this was 
desired — and now, at last — in one locality at least 
— public gratitude has erected it — and in an 
imposing and enduring form. 

For many years, in his native town, a simple, 
rude stone, by the side of his father's grave, in 

* One of the New Jersey Chapters of the Order of United 
x\mericans, instituted November twenty-first, 1849, at Newark, is 
entitled, we perceive, the " Nathan Hale Chapter, No. 3, O. U. 
Ay Another Association of the same kind, entitled " Nathan 
Hale Chapter, No. 66, O. U.A.,^^ is established at Williamsburgh, 
New York. At a " fraternal visit " paid by this to the Washing- 
ton Chapter in New York city, September twenty-eighth, 1855, 
Hale was eloquently called to remembrance in speeches upon the 
occasion, by D. L. Northrop Esq., of Brooklyn, Hon. Joseph H. 
Petty, Mr. Shelley, and others. 

At one time a few patriotic citizens of Brooklyn, New York, 
proposed to erect a monument to Hale upon the Heights in that 
city. We have seen the design of a monument — a truly magnifi- 
cent one — for this location. But the project was never carried 
into effect. 



152 NATHAN HALE. 

the burial-ground near the Congregational church, 
told the passer-by that "Nathan Hale Esq., a 
Capt. in the army of the United States, was born 
June 6th, 1755 — received the first honors of Yale 
College Sept. 1773" — and "resigned his life a 
sacrifice to his country's liberty at New York, 
Sept. 22d, 1776, aged 22."'^ But this did not 
satisfy the wishes of the citizens of Coventry, 
and vicinity, and of many in Connecticut who 
fondly cherished the memory of the martyr — 
and accordingly, in November, 1837, an Associa- 
tion — called the "Hale Monument Association" — 
was formed, for the purpose of erecting a cenotaph 
in his honor — one that should fitly commemorate 
his life and services, f 



* An entry also of his death was made upon the town records 
of Coventry — by his brother Major John Hale — at a time when 
the particulars of his capture were not known accurately. It runs 
thus : '' Capt. Nathan Hale the son of Deac" Richard Hale was 
taken in the City of New York By the Britons and executed as a 
spie sometime in the Month of September A. D. 1776." 

t The day on which it was formed was the anniversary day of 
the evacuation of New York. Hon. A. T. Judson delivered an 
address upon the occasion. About twenty revolutionary soldiers 



NATHAN HALE. 153 

Appeal was made, chiefly, to tlie patriotism of 
individuals for the accomplishment of the purpose. 
Congress — though several times memoriaHzed for 
aid, and though Select Committees reported in 
favor of an appropriation — yet — from motives, to 
us wholly unsatisfactory, of public policy — refused 
to grant anything. Eepresentatives from Connec- 
ticut — particularly Honorable Messrs. A. T. Jud- 
son, J. H. Brockway, and J. M. ISTiles — urged the 
matter with a most commendable zeal — but in 
vain.* Congress remained deaf as an adder to 

were present, and a large party partook of a substantial repast. It 
was a day of great interest to the people of Coventry. 

^The late Hon. Judge Judson, in behalf of a Select Committee 
of the House, upon petitions praying that a monument might be 
erected to the memory of Hale, submitted a favorable Report and 
Resolution, January nineteenth, 1836. Hon, Mr. Niles, in the 
same year, strongly supported the project, when petitions from 
sundry inhabitants of Connecticut came before the Senate. Hon. 
IVIr. Brockway, May twenty-fifth, 1842, in behalf of a Select Com- 
mittee of the House on the subject, also submitted a favorable 
Report and Resolution, and pressed the matter with patriotic earn- 
estness. For eight successive years applications, in one form and 
another, were made to Congress — but all of them failed, as stated 



154 NATHAN HALE. 

their appeal — as it has been habitually, of late 
years, to all appeals of this character — and would 
not bestow a stiver to honor one who died signally, 
not for the liberty of Connecticut alone, but for 
that of all the United Colonies.* So the Association 

in the text. The first petition on the subject emanated from Cov- 
entry, and was headed by Doctor Nathan Howard, who married 
Joanna, the sister of Captain Nathan Hale. The siecond was 
drawn up by Hon. Thomas S. Williams of Hartford, and was 
numerously signed by citizens in various parts of Connecticut. 
Upon this a report was made by a Committee of Congress, appro- 
priating one thousand dollars for a monument, but the report was 
not acted upon. 

* In times that have past, Congress could expend thousands of 
dollars — and most justly — upon a pedestrian statue of the Father 
of his country, and thousands more to commemorate, through the 
painter's art, some of the grand historical events of our Revolution. 
It could erect monuments to Montgomery, Mercer, Nash, De ICalb, 
Gerry, and Brown. It could grant to Williams, and Paulding, 
and Van Wart, the captors of Andre, each a farm of the value of 
five hundred dollars, and an annuity of two hundred dollars 
through life, and a magnificent silver medal. It could employ the 
sculptor's art on busts of Jay, Ellsworth, and Marshall. It could 
vote medals of gold, and swords of costliest workmanship, to Jack- 
son, Scott, Ripley, Harrison, and to numerous officers besides, for 



NATHAN HALE. 155 

to wMch. we have alluded — under the auspices, 
always unclouded, of J. W. Boynton Esquire, its 
patriotic and indefatigable Secretary — moved on 
alone — and- by means of private subscriptions, by 
Fairs, by Tea Parties, and by the exhibition of a 
Drama illustrating the services and fate of Captain 
Hale, collected funds, and excited public interest 
until in May, 1846, the State of Connecticut 
granted one thousand dollars, and in May, 1847, 
two hundred and fifty dollars more, from its pub- 
lic Treasury in furtherance of the great object* — 

gallant deeds upon the land, and to Decatur, Hull, Perry, Truxton, 
McDonough, and many naval heroes more, for glorious exploits 
upon the seas. It could recite in its resolutions, in glowing terms, 
the services of each, and proclaim, as it did in Commodore Trux- 
ton's case, that the testimonials of the American nation were 
bestowed because their recipients " exhibited an example worthy 
of the American name." And yet the nation could not say as 
much for Captain Hale, when petitioned in his behalf— nor do aught 
in his honor. How was it with England, and her martyr spy? 
Very different. British gratitude erected to Andre a splendid 
mausoleum, even in Westminster Abbey — and among the most 
illustrious dead of the British Empire ! See Appendix J. 

* The ladies of Coventry, Connecticut, were particularly active 



156 NATHAN HALE. 

and the Monument, of whicti, opposite, we give a 
picture — arose, ''a fit emblem both of the events 
in memory of which it was raised, and of the 

in procuring means to erect the monument to Hale, and deserve, 
as they will receive, the especial thanks of the Public. In 1844, 
on the first Wednesday in May, they held a Fair in the old church 
of the First Ecclesiastical Society, at which many useful and fancy 
articles were collected, and contributions were made of cash, from 
Coventry, Hartford and other places. More than three thousand 
persons were present, and the receipts were two hundred and six- 
ty-eight dollars. Refreshments were provided, and the Mansfield 
Brass Band, and the Coventry Glee Club, were in attendance — 
gratuitously. A song, beautifully printed on satin — was prepared 
for the occasion, by Miss Jerusha Root, of Andover, Connecticut. 
It addressed the " Daughters of Freedom,-' as having assembled, 

" with choicest flowers 
To deck a hero's grave — 
To shed the light of love around 
The memory of the brave." 

" Ye came," glide on the strains — 

"Ye came with hearts that oft have glowed 

At his soul-stirring tale — 
To wreathe the deatliless evergreen 

Around the name of Hale. 

Here his memorial stone shall rise, 

In Freedom's hallowed shade — 
Prouder than Andre's trophied tomb, 

'Mid mightiest monarchs laid. 



^- 



_L...,, 



■:i5ti 



OF E a *: E r.KfuOSC 



H 4 I F MO \' U V! ^ N 



N A T H A N H A L E . 157 

gratitude of tliose wlio reared it" — arose "to meet 
tlie sun in his coming " — to " let tlie earliest light 
of the morning gild it, and parting day linger and 
play on its summit ! " 

It stands upon elevated ground, near the Con- 
gregational Church, in South Coventry — and 
within a space, enclosed by a neat iron picketed 

So shall the patriot's honored name 

Go down to other days — 
And Love's own lyre shall sound his fame, 

In thrilling notes of praise." 

The Drama^ to which reference is made in the text, was in five 
acts, and was written for the Hale Monument Association by David 
Trumbull Esq. It was exhibited at the Meeting-House in South 
Coventry, with accompanying Tableaux, One of the Tea-Parties, 
to which reference also is made, was given March eleventh, 1846, 
by the young ladies of South Coventry — with good success. One 
•dollar, for the benefit of the Hale Association, admitted a gentle- 
man and lady. By May, 1846, the v\hole amount collected was 
fifteen hundred dollars. 

Thus — one way and another — with untiring zeal — the noble 
design of a monument to Hale, worthy of the patriot, was prose- 
cuted — till the appropriation from the Treasury of Connecticut — 
in behalf of which — memory pleasant to our soul — we had the sat- 
isfaction, in Senate, of giving heartily our own voice and vote — 

rendered the project certain of consummation. 
14 



158 NATHAN HALE. 

fence, whicli abuts on an old Burjing-yard, that 
holds among other ashes, those of Hale's own 
family. Its site is particularly fine — for on the 
north it overlooks that long, broad, and beautiful 
lake of Wangumbaug, into whose oozy depths, 
with great constancy, Hale 

" Cast to the finny tribe the baited snare, 
Then flung the wriggling captives into air — " 

while on the east, commanding a view of scenerj^ 
that is truly noble, it literally looks through a long 
and captivating natural vista to greet " the sun in 
its rising." The Monument — the original plan of 
which was drawn by Henry Austin Esquire, of 
New Haven — consists of a pyramidal shaft, rest- 
ing on a base of steps, with a shelving projection 
about one-third of the way up the pedestal. Its 
material is hewn Quincy granite, from foundation 
to capstone, and embraces one hundred and twenty- 
five tons of stone. It is fourteen feet square at 
the base, and its height is forty-five feet.* It was 



*The transportation of the material from Quincy to Norwich, 
at an estimated cost of four hundred dollars, was a generous gra- 



NATHA^vT HALE. 159 

completed in 1846— under the superintendence of 
Solomon Willard Esquire, the architect of the 
Bunker Hill Monument — at a cost, everything 
included, of four thousand and thirty- three dollars 
and ninety-three cents, and bears upon its sides 
the following inscriptions. 

[East side.] 

Captain Nathan Hale. 

1776. 

tuity on the part of the Old Colony, Boston and Worcester, and 
Norwich and Worcester Rail Road Companies. The Hon. Nathan 
Hale of Boston, nephew and namesake of the patriot we com- 
memorate, and at the time President of the second of these Com- 
panies, was nobly active in procuring this result. From Norw^oh 
to Coventry the material was transported by ox-teams, at an esti- 
mated cost of about five hundred and twenty-five dollars. On the 
seventh of April, 1846, the ground was first broken for the founda- 
tion of the monument, which was laid of stone quarried about 
three-quarters of a mile east of its site, JNIessrs. Hazelton & Co., 
of Boston, erected the cenotaph, at a cost of three hundred dollars, 
and completed it on the seventeenth day of September, 1846. 



160 XATHANHALE. 

[North side.] 

Born at Coventry. 

June 6. 1755. 

[South side.] 

Died at New York. 

Sept. 22. 1776. 

[West side.] 
"3E anls xt^iti tl&at 1 Izhz iul om Uh to lost for ntB xountrg." 



Hale's fate, as miglit be expected, lias called out 
at times the Muse of Poetry — but rarely however, 
for the parchment roll of his history has been, 
hitherto, wanting to Calliope, and Clio has missed 
him in her half-opened scroll. Yet are the ten 
lines from Doctor Dwight — on the Title Page of 
this Volume — nobly commemorative — and so also 
are many lines in a poem of considerable length 
which was dedicated to the memory of Hale, but 
a short time after his death, by a personal 
acquaintance and friend — one who knew and 



NATHAN HALE. 161 

loved Mm well.^ In this poem, the author des- 
cribes Hale as in personal appearance erect and 
tall, with a "beauteous face," that was marked by 
" innate goodness," and a frame, which, possessing 



*The name of the author is unknown. His entire poem, con- 
sisting of one hundred and sixty lines, may be found in the Febru- 
ary number of the American Historical Magazine, published in 
New Haven in 1836. He prefaces it with the following quotation 
from Virgil : 

" Heu ! miserande puer, si qua fata aspera rumpas, 
Tu Marcellus eris " — 

and also with the following letter, bearing date " New Haven, 
Aug. 9, 1784." 

" I was personally acquainted with, and entertained a high opin- 
ion of the amiable Capt. Nathan Hale^ who suffered death in New 
York by the hands of the British troops, in 1776 ; a character on 
some accounts similar to Major Andre, and on many, greatly supe- 
rior. Every man who regards the welfare of his country, must 
revere a patriot who died in its defence ; and while the English 
Magazines, News, &c., were filled with the praises of Major Andre, 
it gave me no small degree of regret that Capt. Hale's virtues 
should be so little celebrated in the country where, and for which 
he died. This I am able to impute to nothing but the great dis- 
tress in which America was at that time involved. This gave rise 

to the following piece, which was wrote soon after Hale's death." 
14* 



,162 NATHAN HALE. 

great symmetry and grace, was "vigorous, and 
active as electric flame." He represents him at 
college as a most dutiful pupil, and as possessing 
" erudition far beyond his years " — as developing 
a lively fancy, solid judgment, great fondness for 
science, and intense admiration for 

" those polished lines, 
Where Grecian wit and Roman genius shines " — 

and as having his soul fired by the examples of 
those great worthies of a former age, who "live 
in the poet's and historian's page." 

He speaks of his "blameless carriage, and 
modest air " — characterizes him as 

" Above the vain parade and idle show, 
Which mark the coxcomb, and the empty beau " — 

and describing his qualities of temper and con- 
duct, says that 

" Removed from envy, malice, pride, and strife. 
He walked through goodness as he walked through life : 
A kinder brother nature never knew, 
A child more duteous, or a friend more true." 

The poet next follows him into the army near 



NATHAN HALE. 163 

Boston — where, lie says, Washington early 
marked him as ''a genius fit for every great 
design " — 

" His virtues trusted, and his worth admired, 
And mutual friendship both their bosoms fired." 

He next follows him to New York — narrates the 
task imposed on him by Washington — his execu- 
tion of it — his arrest — his arraignment before his 
enemies — his undaunted demeanor upon the occa- 
sion, and his noble frankness. 

" Hate of oppression's arbitrary plan, 
The love of freedom, and the rights of man, 
A strong desire to save from slavery's chain 
The future millions of the western main " — 

these are the ends for which, most truthfully, Hale 
is |)ortrayed as having "served with zeal the land 
that gave him birth" — and as having at last ' met 
his fate' in a scene, to paint which, the poet 
exclaims, 

" the powers of language fail, — 
Love, grief, and pity break the mournful tale. 
Not Socrates, or noble Russel died. 



164 NATHAN HALE. 

Or gentle Sidney, Britain's boast and pride, 
Or gen'rous Moore, approached life's final goal, 
With more composed, more firm, and stable soul. 
The flesh sunk down, to mix with kindred clay, — 
The soul ascended to the realms of day." 

Witli similar pathos, and not ungracefully, does 
a poet of Hale's own native place — the late 
lamented J. S. Babcock — sing of Ms departed 
townsman. "Full stern was his doom," he 
rehearses — 

" but full firmly he died. 
No funeral or bier they made him, 
Not a kind eye wept, nor a warm heart sighed, 
O'er the spot all unknown where they laid him. 

He fell in the spring of his early prime, 

With his fair hopes all around him ; 
He died for his birth-land — ' a glorious crime ' — 

Ere the palm of his fame had crowned him. 

He fell in her darkness — he lived not to see 

The morn of her risen glory ; 
But the name of the brave, in the hearts of the free, 

Shall be twined in her deathless story." 

Nor ungracefully either — but on the other hand 



NATHAN HALE. 165 

with, mucli of lyric force — does Francis M. Finch 
Esquire — in his Poem before the Linonian Society 
of Yale College at its Centennial Anniversary in 
1853 — sing of the departed patriot. " To drum- 
beat," he proceeds, in a few verses which we 
extract from a series — 

" To drum-beat and heart-beat, 

A soldier marches by ; 

There is color in his cheek, 

There is courage in his eye. 
Yet to drum-beat and heart-beat, 
In a moment he must die. 

By star-light and moon-light, 

He seeks the Briton's camp ; 
He hears the rustling flag, 

And the armed sentry's tramp ; 
And the star-light and moon-light 

His silent wanderings lamp. 

With slow tread and still tread, 

He scans the tented line ; 
And he counts the battery-guns 

By the gaunt and shadowy pine 5 
And his slow tread and still tread 

Gives no warning sign." 



166 NATHAN HALE. 

This 'warning sign,' however, as the poet des- 
cribes, soon comes. "With a sharp clang, a steel 
clang, the patriot is bound " — and now, 

" With calm brow, steady brow, 

He listens to his doom ; 
In his look there is no fear, 

Nor a shadow trace of gloom 
But with calm brow, and steady brow, 

He robes him for the tomb. 

In the long night, the still night, 

He kneels upon the sod 5 
And the brutal guards withhold 

E'en the solemn "Word of God . 
In the long night, the still night, 

He walks where Christ hath trod, 

'Neath the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

He dies upon the tree ; 
And he mourns that he can lose 

But one hfe for Liberty ; 
And in the blue morn, the sunny morn, 

His spirit-wings are free. 



From Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 
From monument and urn, 



NATHAN HALE. 167 

The sad of Earth, the glad of Heaven, 

His tragic fate shall learn ; 
And on Fame-leaf and Angel-leaf, 

The name of Hale shall burn ! " 

Eomance too has been busy with Hale. He 
has been made the hero of tales, and the origina- 
tor of sentiments, in which the imagination, and not 
fact, has had the principal part to play. It is not 
to be regretted however, that even in these forms, 
exaggerated though they be, his memory is kept 
alive. So we are able to separate the true from 
the fanciful, we can pardon almost any idealiza- 
tion of Hale's character. We can forgive the halo 
for the sake of the truly noble shape which it 
encompasses. When, however, we encounter a 
tribute to his memory, not heightened in coloring, 
but chaste and natural, like that which we are 
now about to introduce — it is indeed most grate- 
ful — as our Eeaders also, we think, will find it to be. 

It proceeds, in the form of an epitaph, in the 
old style, from the antiquarian pen of our worthy 
friend George Gibbs Esquire, Librarian formerly 
of the New York Historical Society, who has 



168 NATHAN HALE. 

kindly furnislied us with it — and we here give it 
place. 

"^trait^jer 33titiat]& His %tant 
^izs t^i ^ust of 

a J5p2 
into ^zxis'tii^ u?on tit (Kii^-el 

sa 

tU %ttixUl3 mariltjsr of t^t (Kual 

lt£ ^trm£5 of ^nots 

tntovxl not oni, mort iuorl^s ^^ 

i^oTtor 

tl^a^ i^im ho^o fitrt 

5l£;ep5 ^15 last sUtf. 

Nations 

iobD bitl^ rcbtnnx;C icfon tfj^e Ijust 

of !)im ibofjo &irj5 

a glorious I3£att 

ux^tii on is ^^^ sounitr of ti&e 

S^rump^t 

anir tl&f s|)out5 of 

abmirin^ tl&ousan&s 

But tofiat rcfejcnn^t, ixifiat fionor 

is not Irw to on£ 

ix)|o for \}i3 touTttr^ jentount^nlJ 

ihm an infamous Ijjat]^ 

Sootf)clj is ^ sjmpatbs 

animattlJ ij no praist." 



NATHAN HALE. 169 

In connection, and in comparison ^vitll Hale, 
the image of the brave and unfortunate Andre 
rises, of coarse, to the contemplation of the Eeader. 
Let us look at them — side by side — and in con- 
trast — the one an American, the other a British 
spy — each a distinguished victim — the one to his 
love of country — the other to "his own impru- 
dence, ambition, and love of glory " — each a mar- 
tyr — the one for liberty — the other for power. 
They were both gallant officers. They were both 
accomplished men — Andre the most so by educa- 
tion, as having enjoyed the highest advantages, 
and more used than Hale to polished societ}^ He 
could both draw and paint exquisitely — which 
Hale could not— and he was better versed than 
the latter in elegant literature. They were both 
men of striking personal appearance. They would 
have been called graceful, beautiful, and manly, by 
all. Each possessed a lively sensibility. Each 
was cheerful, affable, amiable, honorable, magnan- 
imous. Each was admired in all social circles, 
and won the hearts of hosts of friends. 

Let us look at the two now in their respective 



170 NATHANHALE. 

missions. Andre, upon his own, did 7iot volun- 
teer. It was upon Arnold's solicitation, fortified 
by considerations of friendship between Andre 
and the traitor's accomplished wife — and at the 
direct request of Sir Henry Clinton himself, of 
whose military family Andre formed a part, and 
to whom, for kindness that had been "lavish," 
Andre confesses obligations the most profound — 
that the British Aid de Camp, not dreaming to 
enact the spy, and with in fact no dangers then 
in prospect, consented, not proffered to undertake 
his task. 

But not so with Hale. He, upon his mission, 
volunteered. Soon as the wish of Washington 
was made known — biased by no considerations of 
private friendship, and without thought of requi- 
ting personal obligations either to the Commander- 
in-chief, or to any other officer or man — in view of 
dangers most imminent, from which all others 
shrank — in full view of them — and in the face of 
earnest entreaty to the contrary — he offered him- 
self to discharge the trust. 

Andre, when he left New York, had no idea of 



NATHAN HALE. 171 

passing within the American lines. He was spe- 
cially instructed by Clinton not to do so— not to 
change his dress as a British officer — and he did 
not, until, as he says himself, he was "betrayed 
into the vile condition of an enemy in disguise." 
He was to go to Dobb's Ferry only — upon the 
borders merely of neutral ground — and there, 
under a flag of truce, settle with Arnold the '' pre- 
tended mercantile transaction " — and it was the 
voice of the sentinel, in the darkness of night, at 
Smith's house, which first gave him intimation of 
the "unexpected circumstance " that he was within 
the American beat, and in danger. "Against 
my stipulation, my intention, and without my 
knowledge beforehand," he writes to Washington, 
" I was conducted within one of your posts — I 
was involuntarily an impostor." 

Hale, on the other hand, started from the 
American camp, fully aware ' beforehand ' that he 
was to change his dress, and assume a disguise — 
that he was to pass within the British lines — into 
their midst — up to the very muzzles of their mus- 
kets, and the mouths of their ordnance — that he 



172 X A THAN HALE. 

was in fact to be, in all the shifts, and shades, and 
aims, and efforts of his mission, the spy. He under- 
took then, at the outset, what Andre not only did 
not, but never even contemplated, nor would, we 
believe, but for an unforseen necessity, have for a 
moment endured. His moral courage, therefore, 
rises higher than that of Andre's — higher far. 
For the sake of the sublime cause in which he 
was engaged, he became voluntarily ' an impos- 
tor.' He took upon himself a great ignominy to 
start with. Andre took none — bore no burden 
whatever upon his spirits. Not even a fancied 
shadow projected itself, for a moment, over the 
dial of his honor, when he left the Head Quarters 
of his Commander-in-chief, and he pushed for- 
ward to the Vulture at Teller's Point, "carolling 
as he went." 

The motives which inspired Hale and Andre in 
their respective expeditions, are Avell worthy of 
consideration, and furnish striking contrast. 
" What was to have been your reward, in case 
you had succeeded?" — inquired Major Tallmadge 
of his prisoner, as the latter sat on the after seat 



. NATHAN HALE. 173 

of the barge in whicli he was borne, under escort, 
from West Point to Tappan. "Military glory was 
all that I sought," replied Andre — " and the thanks 
of my general, and the approbation of my king, 
would have been a rich reward for such an under- 
taking." Yes, military renown — martial prefer- 
ment — the office of Brigadier General in the British 
army, offered him in advance as a glittering prize — 
the ' big wars ' and the ' plumed troop ' to make 
his ' ambition virtue ' — these, and Clinton's thanks, 
and the compliments of royalt}^, were the motives 
which prompted Andre — motives which, however 
elevated they may be thought to be, and in cer- 
tain relations are, yet in true greatness, and 
dignity, fall far below those which prompted 
Hale. 

Was Hale willing to hazard his life, that as a 
warrior, and in this character alone, he might 
" instil his memory through a thousand years ?" 
Not at all. No martial allurement, of any kind, 
enslaved his imagination — ardent though it was — 
or flattered his hope, or stimulated his ambition. 

No promotion was promised — none was expected. 
15* 



174 X A THAN HALE. 

No reward in pelf was pledged. " Surrounded 
from his birtli," as one of liis nephews'^ has justly 
said, "with the doctrine that men should do right 
hecause it is right, he went upon his hazardous 
mission just because it was right to go — not 
thinking what bodies would say, nor expecting 
or caring to be a hero." It was a pure sense of 
duty — a magnificent inspiration direct and deep 
from the soul of patriotism itself — that impelled 
Hale to his task, and that bore him onward — 
unlike Andre, thoughtless of feme — unlike Andre, 
thoughtless of reward — unlike Andre, Avith no 
motive but the one engrossing, unpolluted, serene 
thought of ' being useful' to his countr}^ — onward 
to risk, to capture, and to death, f 

The loeril while engaged in their expeditions — 
here again the parallel between Andre and Hale 
is in favor of the latter. Andre experienced 
scarce any exposure until he reached Smith's 



" The late David Hale Esquire, of New York. 

t" Viewed in any light," says Sparks, most justly, the act of 
Hale " must be allowed to bear unequivocal marks of patriotic 
disinterestedness and self-devotion." 



NATHAN HALE. 175 

house near Haverstraw — and there but slight — a 
little more at King's Ferry, on his attempted re- 
turn, near certain Whig loungers over a bowl of 
23unch — more still near Crompond, in the imme- 
diate presence of an American patrolling party, 
and of the inquisitive Captain Bojd — ^but after 
this time, but little again until from the bushes at 
Tarrytown, he was seized and secured by the j^^t- 
riot hands of Paulding, and Williams, and Yan 
Wart. Thirty-six hours only elapsed from the 
time he left the secure deck of the Yidture, and 
the shrouded foot of Mount Long Clove, till he 
became a captive— and during this short interval, 
his chief, nay almost his only peril was among 
the Cowboys and Skinners who infested the far- 
famed neutral ground of Westchester County. 
But Hale was upon his mission, ere he was made 
a prisoner, about two weeks— -a long period 
indeed as compared with that occupied by Andre — 
and filled up, the whole of it, w^ith risks far more 
constant and glaring, not alone among bandits 
unprincipled and perfidious as those in whose 
proximity Andre journeyed, but also in the im- 



176 NATHAN HALE. 

mediate presence of the foe, and within the very 
circuits of their encampments. 

The behaviour of Hale and Andre immediately 
after their capture merits comparison — it was in 
some points so strikingly similar. Truthful by 
impulse — " too little accustomed to duplicity," 
either of them, long to ' succeed ' in it — staggering 
too, each of them, under the weight of evidence 
that seemed resistless — they both made a clean 
breast of it, and confessed. The British officer 
did it, seeking some mitigation of his case, but 
only such, however, " as could be granted on the 
strict principles of honor and military usage." 
Hale sought no alleviation of his own case, of 
any kind — but respectfully triumphed over his 
success, such as he had obtained, and proudly 
confronted impending punishment. 

Andre acknowledged himself an Adjutant Gen- 
eral in the British army — but not a spy — certainly 
not an ' intentional ' one. It was his purpose, as 
in his letter to Washington he says, to ' rescue ' 
himself " from an imputation of having assumed 
a mean character for treacherous purposes, or self- 



NATHAN HALE. 177 

interest." Hale acknowledged himself a Captain 
in tlie American Continental service — but no 
scruples of fancied honor, no penitential casuist- 
ries, stood for a moment between himself and the 
part he had acted. He pronounced himself to 
General Howe, at once and unequivocally, a spy 
— and was ready, he affirmed, for the spy's fate. 

Upon trial, Hale was manly, dignified, respect- 
ful, prompt, unembarrassed, without disguise. So 
was Andre. Each stated " with truth ever3^thing 
relating to himself." Neither used any words 
"to explain, palliate, or defend any part of his 
conduct." Each without surprise, without com- 
ment, without a murmur, without even a com- 
plaining look, received his sentence. And each, 
after the sentence, retired to his quarters " tran- 
quil in mind" — the one. Hale — ^heaven knows 
where — to some foul barrack, or tent, or an ' oak- 
en bed ' in some cell of the Provost — the other, 
Andre, to ' decent quarters ' — specially ordered by 
Washington himself to be such — to a well fur- 
nished apartment, where, in j^tirsuance of direc- 
tions from the same high authority, and in con- 



178 NATHAN HALE. 

formity with the inclination of all on duty, he 
was 'treated with civility' — was comfortably 
lodged and fed — from the table principally of the 
American Commander-in-chief himself — and "eve- 
ry attention paid to him suitable to his rank and 
character." 

The interval between condemnation and death 
was spent by each in a frame of mind for the 
most part composed, but at times, we must be- 
lieve, agitated and agonized — not by the fear of 
death — but at thought of rupturing, so soon, by 
the mortal throe, earth's potent ties — nay, in case 
of each of the captives, some ties that are the ten- 
derest and most engrossing of all that bind man 
to this world. Andre had his mother and two 
sisters, dependent, each of them, in some degree 
upon his commission for support. Though 
" Hope's soft star," as his friend Miss Seward ex- 
presses it, had " shone trembling on his love," he yet 
cherished his " Honora."* He had too his coun- 

* His marriage,.says Sparks, " was defeated by the opposition 
of the lady's father. Four years after the engagement was dis- 
solved by parental authority, she was married to another person. 



NATHAN HALE. 179 

try to live for, and serve. And so had Hale — a 
bleeding country, in a crisis of danger, to love 
and fight for — and troops of fond relatives and 
friends upon whom to outpour his affection — and 
an " Alicia " too, to admire and wear as the rich- 
est jewel in his heart. Sombre thoughts then, at 
times — pangs even — must have come over the 
souls of the two sufferers, as in the solitude of 
their imprisonment, they contemplated their near 
and dark approaching destiny. 

Yet — most of the time — we are assured, their 
appearance was marked by that same " serenity 
of temper, and winning gentleness of manners," 
which had been conspicuous in their lives. An- 
dre, in his imprisonment, was surrounded by 
sympathy and attention. So many and extenua- 
ting were the circumstances in his favor, that 
" even the sternest advocate for justice could not 

Till that time Andre had cherished the delusive fancy that some 
propitious event would change the current of his fortunes, and 
crown his wishes with success. Despair had now shut the door 
of hope." — The lady to whom he was engaged married a Mr. 
Edgworth, and died six years after her nuptials. 



180 NATHAN" HALE. 

regard his impending fate without regret, or a 
wish that it might be averted." But Hale, as we 
have seen, had no such kindness near him — not 
one drop even for his parched and yearning heart 
— but all around him was dissonance, malediction, 
and severity. He was alone in his own deso- 
lation. 

Each of the captives wrote letters in prison — 
Hale to his home — Andre to Greneral Washing- 
ton, and to Clinton. Andre in prison dreaded 
the gibbet, and implored to die a soldier's death — 
by the bullet. No such apprehension, that we 
can learn, tortured Hale. Andre, with a pen, 
quietly sketched his own likeness, seated at a table 
in his guard-room, on the morning of the day 
fixed for his execution.^ Hale had no such re- 
source for melancholy diversion — nor is it proba- 
ble that he would have used it, had it been in his 
power, in preference to last words, to meditation, 
and to prayer. 



* See a fae simile of it on the page opposite. The original is in 
the Trumbull Gallery at Yale College. The likeness is deemed 
very accurate. 



I 




NATHAN HALE. 183 

Eacli received with calmness notice of the fatal 
hour. Each marched firmly to the place of exe- 
cution, save that disappointment at the mode of 
death made the frame of Andre shudder for a 
moment when he first saw the gibbet. " It will 
be but a momentary pang," however, he said, and 
with his own hands bared, bandaged, and noosed 
himself for the occasion.* Other and barbarous 
hands, hands of true raven blackness, prepared 
Hale for his exit — and his own mortal agony was 
witnessed by but few — and these strangers all to 
the sufierer — persons chiefly of humble condition, 
with hearts, most of them, of flint — and who were 
assembled more from prurient curiosity — -just to 
see a spy hung — than from any motives of com- 
passion. But Andre had around him an immense 
concourse of people — a large detachment of Ameri- 
can troops, and almost all the American general 



* " The hangman, who was painted black, offered to put on the 
noose. — ' Take off your black hands I ' said Andre ; then putting 
on the noose himself, took out his handkerchief, tied it on, drew it 
up, bowed with a smile to his acquaintances, and died." Testi- 
mony of David Williams. 



184 NATHAN HALE. 

and field officers — and the entire body garlanded 
him with their sympathy — gratefully intensified 
the scene, and soothed the sufierer, with the tri- 
bute of their silent, deep, and universal mourning. 

Hale met his fate unostentatiously. Andre, in 
complete British uniform — in a coat of dazzling 
scarlet, and under-clothes of brightest buff — with 
his long, beautiful hair carefully arranged — 
and with his hands upon his hips — paced his own 
coffin back and forth — gazed complacently at the 
fatal beam over his head, and upon the crowd 
around him — and then dauntlessly too, like Hale, 
gave himself up to that 'tremendous swing,' as 
an eye-witness reports it, which, almost instantly, 
closed his mortal career. 

The last words of the sufferers — the comparison 
here is indeed moving and instructive. — " / pray 
you to hear me ivitness,''^ said Andre to Colonel 
Scammel, " that I meet my fate like a hrave man ! " 
— ^^ I only regret^^ said Hale, " that I have hut one 
life to hsefor my country ! " — Is it not obvious ? — 
the one was measuring himself in the eyes of men 
— the other in the eyes of his Maker — the one was 



NATHAN HALE. 185 

thinking of reputation — the other of usefulness — 
the one of heroism — the other of benefaction — 
Andre of himself— Hale of his country. The 
dying moment then — that ordeal which, poignantly 
as by fire, tests the natural disposition — that sol- 
emn crisis when eternity is wont to sweep every 
shade of delusion from the soul of man, and truth, 
if ever, speaks in its genuine purity and power 
from his quivering lips — the dying moment testi- 
fies to Hale's superior sublimity of character as 
compared with Andre. 

It was not the American martyr, at this time — 
be it remarked — who was thinking of worldly 
fame, and worldly honors. He summoned no one 
to bear witness to his fortitude. No desire had he, 
like Andre, to concentrate admiration for the iron 
strength with which he could endure bodily suf- 
fering. No attempt did he make to brace his 
nerves by stimulating visions of posthumous 
applause. He had not the first faint conception 
even of shining in after ages, as a star among 
warrior-martyrs — as a brave man merely — as the 

hero, the Promethean hero of the x\merican Eev- 
16* 



186 NATHAN HALE. 

olution. The lips of posterity miglit praise "him, 
lie may have desired — but it was only for his 
exalted moral purposes, and for his utter disinter- 
estedness of spirit, that he could have wished its 
approbation. It was only because under the im- 
pelling power of a free, conscientious, self-reward- 
ing, inspiring sense of patriotic duty, he struggled 
for the liberty and happiness of his fellow-men — 
because he expired, nobly breathing out the whole 
body of his affections upon his native land. 

Thus to be embalmed in the memory of man- 
kind, is worthy of every one's aspiration. It is a 
crown of immortality such as Hale himself, had 
he foreseen it, would never have rejected — and 
which, thanks to the gratitude which his life and 
conduct, wherever known, cannot fail to enkindle, 
he wears now — glorious upon his brow — and will 
continue to wear, brighter and brighter still, so 
long as time and posterity exist to chronicle the 
happy years of our Kepublic. 



APPENDIX 



A. 

Page 13. 

Genealogy of the Family of Capt. Nathan Hale. 
By Rev. Edward E. Hale of Worcester., Mass. 

Nathan Hale was directly descended from Robert Hale 
of Charlestown, Mass., one of the early settlers of the "Bay 
Colony," in that State. 

Robert Hale belonged to the family of Hales of Kent, 
England. There were in England at that time at least three 
large families of the name, belonging to different parts of 
the kingdom. These were the Hales of Kent, the Hales of 
Hertford, and the Hales of Gloucestershire. Of the last of 
these families was the celebrated Sir Matthew Hale, who 
was nearly contemporary with Robert Hale, the emigrant to 
America, having been born in 1609, and died in 1676. 

From the Hales of Hertfordshire spring the family of 
Thomas Hale, one of the early settlers of Newbury, Massa- 



190 APPENDIX. 

chusetts. Of this family are a large part of those persons 
who now bear the name of Hale in New England.* 

Robert Hale of Charlestown, and his descendants, of whom 
some account will here be given, retained the coat of arms 
of the Hale family of Kent ; to which therefore, there seems 
no doubt, that they belong.f 

This family existed in Kent as early at least as the reign 
of Edward HI. Nicholas at Hales, then resided at Hales- 
place, Halden, Kent. His son, Sir Robert Hales, was Prior 
of the Knights of St. John, and Lord High Treasurer of 
England. He was murdered by Wat Tyler's mob, on Tower 
Hill, in 1381. His brother Sir Nicholas de Hales was the 
ancestor of three subdivisions of the family, described in 
Halsted's Kent, as the Hales of Kent, of Coventry, and of 
Essex. 

To the Kent family belonged, — we may say in passing 
down to the emigration of Robert Hales, — Sir James Hales, 
whose suicide by drowning led to the " case of Dame Hales " 
reported by Plowden, and commented on by the clowns in 
Hamlet. "Sir James Hales was dead, and how came he to 

* In the memoir of the late David Hale, of New York, nephew of Captain 
Nathan, by Rev. Mr. Thompson, their descent is erroneously attributed to 
the same family. Mr. Thompson undoubtedly was misled by the impression at 
one time entertained by our distinguished genealogist, Mr. Somerby, that Robert 
Hale of Charlestown was the son of Richard Hale, the High Sheriff of Hert- 
fordshire. But this Robert remained in England at least as late as 1666. 

t Gules, three broad arrows feathered argent. 



GENEALOGY. 191 

his death ? It may be answered, by drowning ; and who 
drowned him ? Sir James Hales ; and when did he drown 
him? In his life-time. So that Sir James Hales, being 
alive, caused Sir James Hales to die, and the act of the liv- 
ing man was the death of the dead man. And then for this 
offence it is reasonable to punish the living man who com- 
mitted the offence, and not the dead man." Such and much 
more is the reasoning of one of the judges, which is directly 
alluded to by Shakspeare in the " Crowner's quest Law" 
of the clowns in Hamlet. 

Of the same family, after Robert Hale emigrated to Amer- 
ica, was Sir Edward Hales, the loyal companion of James 
II. in his exile ; — made by him Earl of Tenterden and Vis- 
count Tonstall. 

The name in England appears to have been spelt now 
with a final s — and now without. Hale-place near Canter- 
bury, a handsome seat now occupied by the family, bears 
the same name which the family in New England bears, — 
and its residents spell their name in the same way. 

The family in New England begins, as has been said, with 

Gex. I. Ttobert Hale, who arrived in Massachusetts in 
1632. He was one of those set off from the first church in 
Boston to form the first church in Charlestown, in 1632 ; — 
of this church he was a deacon. He was a blacksmith by 
trade, — but appears to have also had a gift, which has been 
inherited bv many of his descendants, for the practical appH- 



192 APPENDIX. 

cation of the mathematics. For he was regularly employed 
by the General Court as a Surveyor of new plantations, 
until his death, which took place July 19, 1659. His wife's 
name was Jane. After his death she married Richard Jacob 
of Ipswich, and died July, 1679. 

^Robert Hale had the following children ; 

Gen. n. 'Rev. John Hale ; b. June 3, 1636 ; d. May 15, 

1700; ^Mary; b. May 17, 1639; m. Wilson; ^Zacha- 

riah; b. April 3, 1641 ; d. June 5, 1643; 'Samuel; d. 1679. 
^Johanna; b. 1638; m. John Larkin ; d. 1685. Of these 

'Rev. John Hale, graduated at Harvard College in 1657. 
He was settled as the first minister of Beverly, Mass., when 
the first church of Beverly was separated from Salem in 
1667; and remained in this charge to his death. He was 
one of three chaplains to the unfortunate New England 
expedition to Canada in 1690. In this expedition he was 
taken prisoner, but soon released. Two years after, the 
Salem witchcraft excited the whole province. Mr. Hale was 
present at the examinations of some of those accused, and 
participated in the religious exercises at their trials. But 
in October, a person in Wenham accused Mrs. Hale of witch- 
craft. The accusation disabused him of an}^ delusion he had 
been under, and not only him but the whole community. 
From that moment the whole tide turned, — and the progress 
of infatuation was at an end. In 1697, he wrote and pub- 
lished "A modest inquiry into the nature of witchcraft, and 



GENEALOGY. 193 

how persons guilty of that crime may be convicted ; and the 
means used for their discovery discussed, both negatively 
and affirmatively according to Scripture and experience." 
In this discussion he laments the errors and mistakes of what 
he knew as the "Witchcraft delusion." 

He was three times married. 1st, to Rebeckah Byles, 
daughter of Henry Byles of Sarum, England. She died 
April 13, 1683, aet. 45 years. 2nd, Mar. 3, 1684, to Mrs. 
Sarah Noyes, of Newbury. She died May 20, 1695, aet. 41 ; 
and 3rd, Aug. 8, 1698, to Mrs. Elizabeth Clark of Newbury^ 
who survived him. By the first two of these wives he had 
the following children. 

Gen. hi. 1. ^Rebeckah; b. Apr. 28, 1666; d. May 7, 
1681. 2. ^Robert ; b. Nov. 3, 1688 ; d. 1719. He was the 
father of Col. Robert Hale of Beverly, who accompanied 
Shirley to the siege of Louisburg. The family mansion at 
Beverly remains in the family of his descendants, being 
now occupied by Mr. Bancroft. The male line in this family 
is extinct. 

3. «Rev. James; b. Oct. 14, 1685; d. 1742. He M^as 
minister of Ashford, Connecticut, and left a son, James 
Hale, from whom a large family descended. Of these Rob- 
ert Hale, b. 1749, was an officer in the Revolution,— and 
perhaps others. 

4. ^"Samuel; b. Aug. 13, 1687; d. about 1724. 

5. "Johanna; b. June 18, 1689 

17 



194 APPENDIX. 

6. '^John; b. Aug. 24, 1692. He was drowned by the 
oversetting of a boat in Wells River, — the only person 
drowned of the party, though the best swimmer. He left 
no sons. 

Of the children of ^Rev. John Hale, the fourth, as named 
above, was "Samuel. He settled in Newbury, Massachu- 
setts, where on the 2Gth of August, 1714, he married Apphia 
Moody, who was born June 23, 1693. He lived in that part 
of Newbury known as Newburyporfc, and there all his 
children were born. He afterwards removed to Ports- 
mouth, where he died about the year 1724. His children 
were 

Gen. IV. 1. "Joanna; b. June, 1715; d. about 1792; 
m. Capt. Stephen Gerrish of Boscawen, N. H. 

2. "Richard; b. Feb. 28, 1717; d. June 1,1802; lived 
and died at Coventry. 

3. ''Samuel; b. Aug. 24, 1718;-^gr. H. 0.1740; d. July 
10, 1807. He lived and died at Portsmouth. 

4. '^Hannah ; b. Jan. 24, 1720 ; m. Jos. Atkinson of New- 
bury Jan. 23, 1744 ; d. about 1791. ^\\v,or 

5. '^ohn; b. June 16, 1721-2; d. about 1787; m.Knl^rf 
Of "Richard, the second of these children, Capt. Nathan 

Hale was the son. As the children of the rest were there- 
fore his cousins, — and as some of them are alluded to in his 
correspondence, we add their names, — and the dates of their 
birth. 



GENEALOGY. 195 

Mrs. "Joanna Gerrish and Capt. Stephen Gerrish had 
issue 

Gen. V. 1. '^Henry Gerrish; b. 1742; (at the date of 
1V77 he had seven children.) 

2. ^^ Jenny ; m. Ames ; (at the date of 1777 she 

had two children.) 

3. ^"Samuel Gerrish; b. 1748; (at the date of 1777 he 
had two children.) Probably this was Col. Samuel Gerrish, 
cashiered for conduct unworthy an officer at Bunker's Hill, 
and SewalFs Pt., Aug, 19, 1775 ; — a sentence pronounced 
by the J. advocate "far too severe." When the battle was 
fought neither he nor his officers were commissioned. 

4. '^Enoch Gerrish ; b. 1750; (at the date of 1777 he had 
two children.) 

5. ^' Gerrish (a Son,) b. 1756 ; d. Aug. 24, 1777. 

^^Richard Hale; born in Newburyport Feb. 28, 1717; 

removed to Coventry, Connecticut; — where he lived, and 
died June 1, 1802. He married EHzabeth, daughter of 
Joseph Strong Esq., of that place, on the 17th of May, 1746. 
She died April 21, 1767. He married again, "the widow 
Adams" of Canterbury, Ct, by whom he had no issue. 
The children of the first marriage were 

Gen. V. 1. -^Samuel; b. May 25, 1747; d. Apr. 1824; 
without issue. 

2. '^"John; b. Oct. 21, 1748; d. Dec. 22, 1802; without 
issue. 



196 APPENDIX. 

3. "Joseph ; b. Mar. 12, 1750 ; d. Apr. 29, 1784. 

4. "Elizabeth; b. Jan. 1, 1752; d. Oct. 31, 1813. 

5. ^•'Enoch; b. Oct. 28, 1753; d. Jan. 4, 1837. 

6. 2«NATHAN; b. June 6, 1755; executed at New York 
Sept. 22, 1776. 

7. '^^Richard; b. Feb. 20, 1757; d. Feb., 1793. 

8. ""Billy ; b. Apr. 20, 1759 ; m. Hannah Barker, Jan. 19, 

1784; d. Sept. 7, 1785. 

9. ^^David; ) ( d. Feb. 10, 1822. 

{ b. Dec. 14-15, 1761 ; \ 

10. ^^ Jonathan ; J ' ( d. Dec. 21, 1761. 

11. "'Joanna; b. March 19, 1764; d. Apr. 22, 1838. 

12. ""Susanna; b. Feb. 1, 1766; d. March, 1766. 
^'Samuel Hale of Portsmouth; b. Aug. 24, 1718; gr. H. 

C. 1740 ; d. July, 1807. He taught the Grammar School at 
Portsmouth for many years, served in the old French war, 
and was at one time Judge of the Common Pleas Court. 
He married Mary, daughter of Thomas Wright of Ports- 
mouth. Their children were 

Gen. V. 1. "^Samuel, of Barrington, b. 1758; d. Apr. 
28, 1828. 

2. "^Thomas Wright, of Barrington ; b. 1760. 

3. "'John; b. 1764; tutor at Harvard College from 1781 
to 1786; d. 1791. 

4. "^William; b. Aug. 6, 1765; m. Lydia Rollins Apr. 
30, 1794; d. Nov. 8, 1848, at Dover, N. H., where he had 

He represented the 



GENEALOGY. 197 

State in Congress six years, — and was often a member of 
the State Legislature. 

^^Hannah Hale; b. January 24, 1720; m. Joseph Atkin- 
son of Newbury, Jan. 28, 1744. They lived at Boscawen, 
N. H., where she died, about 1791. They had issue 

Gen. V. 1. ^"Samuel Atkinson. 

2. ^"Simeon Atkinson. 

3. ^^Susanna Chadwick. 

4. ^'^Hannah Atkinson. 

5. ^^Sarah Atkinson. 

17. John Hale; b. June 16, 1721-22. He lived at Glou- 
cester, (Cape Ann,) Mass., and died about 1787. He had 
issue (-^-ei'nar I". - e.^,.y'rC,.. 

Gen. V. 1. ^^Samuel (of Portsmouth) ; who m. Lydia 
Parker. Their only son, John Parker Hale Esq., settled in 
Rochester, N. H. He married Lydia C. O'Brien of New- 
buryport. Hon. John Parker Hale, of the U. S. Senate, is 
their son. 

2. ^^John. 

3. "'Benjamin. ^.1-yc.y ,da 

4. "'Ebenezer. 

5. "^Jane. 

6. ''"Sally. 

7. '"Hannah. 

In these lists of the fifth Generation, between the names 

numbered 18 and 50, are all the cousins of Nathan Hale; 

17* 



198 APPENDIX. 

and, under his father's family, his brothers and sisters. He 
died unmarried. The following lists give the names of the 
children of his brothers and sisters. 

-^Samuel Hale ; oldest son of Dea. Richard Hale ; b. May 
25, 1747 ; lived at Coventry, and died without issue, Apr. 
17, 1824. 

^*Maj. John Hale ; second son of Dea. Richard Hale ; b. 
Oct. 21, 1748 ; m. Sarah Adams, at Coventry, Dec. 19, 1771, 
dau. of his father's second wife. They lived at Coventry, 
where he died, Dec. 22, 1802, without issue. His death was 
sudden. His widow, eager to carry out what she thought 
would have been his intentions, bequeathed £1000 to Trust- 
ees, as a fund, the income of which was to be used for the 
support of young men preparing for Missionary service, — 
and in part for founding and supporting the Hale Library in 
Coventry, to be used by the ministers of Coventry and the 
neighboring towns. She died Nov., 1803, in less than one 
year after him. 

"Lieut. Joseph Hale ; third son of Dea. R. Hale ; b, Man 
12, 1750 ; was with the army near Boston, and, it is believed, 
to the close of the war. He served both in Knowlton's and 
Webb's regiments. Soon after his brother Nathan's death, 
he was in the battle of White Plains, and a ball passed 
through his clothes. Subsequently he was for a long time 
stationed at New London, where he became acquainted with 
Rebeckah Harris, daughter of Judge Joseph Harris of that 



GENEALOGY. 199 

place. They were married Oct. 21, 1778. After the close 
of his service he settled in Coventry ; — but his constitution, 
vs^hich was naturally very strong, was broken, and he fell 
into a decline, and died April 80, 1784, leaving four child- 
ren — viz : 

Gen. VI. 1. "Elizabeth ; b. Sept. 29, 1779 ; m. Nov., 
1801, Zebadiah Abbot of Wilton, N. H. ; d. April, 1845. 
They had four sons, viz., Zebadiah, Rufus, Charles, and 
Levi, of whom the second and fourth graduated at Yale, 
and the third at Dartmouth College, — and five daughters, 
viz., Eliza, who m. Alva Steele, Mary, who m. J. F. Russell, 
Nancy, who m. George M. Hayward, Caroline, who m. 
Henry Abbot, and Lucy, who m. William Abbot. 

2. ^-Rebeckah ; b. Jan. 9, 1781 ; m. Oct. 1799, Dea. Ezra 
Abbot of Wilton, N. H. They had seven sons and six 
daughters. Of the sons, one died in infancy. The names 
of the remainder are Joseph Hale, Ezra, Abiel, Harris, Nel- 
son, and John — of whom three, viz., Joseph, Ezra, and 
Abiel, graduated at Bowdoin College. The names of the 
daughters are, Rebeckah, who m. Rev. Isaac Knight, of 
Franklin, N. H., Dorcas, who m. Eben Bishop, of Lisbon, 
Ct., Emily, who died June 10th, 1835, Harriet, who m. 
Herman Abbot, Abby Ann, who m. Rev. L. B. Rockwood, 
of Rocky Hill, Ct., and Sarah Jane Abbot. 

3. "Mary Hale; b. Nov. 23, 1782; m. in 1809, Rev. Levi 
Nelson of Lisbon, Ct. They have no issue. 



200 APPENDIX. 

4. ""Sarah Hale; b. Nov. 27, 1783; died June 27, 1784. 

^^Elizabeth Hale; oldest dau. of Dea. R. Hale; b. Jan.l, 
1752 ; was married Dec. 30, 1773, to Dr. Samuel Rose, a 
Surgeon in the army of the Revolution. He was son of Dr. 
Rose of Coventry. He died in the winter of 1800-1. Their 
children were 

Gen. VI. 1. =^"Capt. Joseph Rose; b. Sept. 17, 1774; m. 
Milly Sweatland ; — settled in N. Coventry as a blacksmith. 
He died about 1835, leaving two daughters, viz., Eliza, who 
m. Jasper Gilbert, of Coventry, Ct, and Fanny, who m. 
Francis Loomis, now of AVethersfield, Illinois. 

2. ^''Nathan Hale Rose ; b. Nov. 18, 1776 ; grew up on the 
old homestead of his grandfather. He settled on the farm 
previously occupied by his uncle Richard. He married 1st, 
Eunice Talcott, daughter of Dea. Talcott of N. Coventry. 
She died after a few years, leaving a daughter who died 
young. He married 2nd, the widow Lydia F. Perkins of 
Lisbon, Ct., by whom he had three sons and one daughter. 
Of these children but one survives, viz., Richard Hale Rose, 
who lives in Coventry, Ct. He has been a member of both 
branches of the General Assembly of Connecticut. 

8. "Fanny Rose ; b. Jan. 4, 1779 ; m. Dec, 1799, Sandford 
Hunt of N. Coventry; and died Feb. 6, 1845 — "an excel- 
lent woman." They settled in Batavia, N. Y. Of their 
family of children is Hon. Washington Hunt of New 
York, — and Lt. Hunt of the U. S. army. 



GENEALOGY. 201 

After the death of Dr. Samuel Rose, his widow, Mrs. 
Elizabeth Rose, married John Taylor of Coventry. She 
died Oct. 31, 1813. Their children were 

1. '^Elizabeth Taylor ; m. Nathaniel Hubbard, of Ver- 
non, and afterwards of Manchester, Ct. 

2. ^^David Taylor ; married and died in New York — 
leaving two children, viz., David, who died young, and 
Maria, who married Williams, of Nunda, New York. 

"Enoch Hale ; fourth son of Deacon R. Hale ; b. Oct. 28, 
1753 ; entered Yale College with his brother Nathan 1769 ; 
gr. 1773 ; studied Theology, and on the 28th of Sept., 1779, 
was ordained as minister of Westhampton, Mass., where he 
died Jan. 14, 1837, after an energetic and useful ministry 
of more than fifty-seven years. He was deeply attached 
to his brother Nathan, and profoundly aifected by his fate. 
He married Sept. 30, 1781, Miss Octavia Throop of Bozrah, 
Conn., dau. of Rev. Mr. Throop of that place. She died 
Aug. 18, 1839. Their children were 

Gen. VI. 1. ^^Sally Hale; b. Aug. 2, 1782 ; m. ElishaB. 
Clapp of Westhampton, Nov. 27, 1800 ; d. Feb. 7, 1838— 
leaving seven children, viz., Clarissa (Ludden,) Otis, Elisha, 
Melissa (Smith,) Washington, Sally (Mc Call,) Octavia (Boy- 
den.) 

2. "Nathan Hale; b. Aug. 16, 1784; m. Sarah Preston 
Everett of Boston, Sept. 5, 1816. Their issue will be 
found under Gen. VH. of Hales. 



202 APPENDIX. 

3. ^'Melissa Hale ; b. Feb. 26, 1786 ; m. Sept. 27, 1809, 
Henry Me Call of Lebanon, Ct. Their children are Charles, 
(Coventry, Conn.) ; Enoch, (Windsor, Conn.,) m. Clarissa 
Backus; George, m. Harriet West, and died 1844; Jacob, 
b. 1817, d. 1822; Henry Strong; Jacob, m. Jane Ells- 
worth ; Hobart, m. Sarah Clapp ; David, m. Foote ; 

Melissa. 

4. ^^Octavia Hale ; b. May 13, 1788; m. Dec. 19, 1811, 
William Hooker of Westfield, Mass. Their children are 
Lucy, b. Sept. 28, 1812 ; d. April 17, 1839 ; William Throop, 
Hooker, Pres. Continental Bank, N. Y., b. March 21, 1815 ; 
Henry Hooker, Cashier of Westfield Bank, Mass., b. June 
27, 1820; Edward Hooker, New York, b. Aug. 7. 1822. 

5. "Enoch Hale ; b. Jan. 19, 1790 ; m. 1st, Sept. 6, 1813, 
Almira Hooker ; 2nd, May, 1822, Sarah Hooker ; 3rd, May 
1829, Jane Murdock; d. Nov. 12, 1848, without issue. 
He studied chemistry and medicine, at Yale College, and 
at the Harvard Medical School, and took his degree of M.D. 
at Cambridge, Aug. 20, 1813. He practiced with distin- 
guished success for a few years in Gardner, Mass., and for 
the rest of his life in Boston. A memoir of him, by Dr. 
Walter Channing, was printed after his death. 

6. "Richard Hale; b. July 2, 1792; m. Dec. 28, 1815, 
Lydia Rust, who died Jan. 10. 1837. He d. in 1839. 
Their issue will be found under Gen. VH. of Hales. 

7. "'Betsey Hale; b. June 2, 1704; m. July 2, 1818, 



GENEALOGY. 203 

Levi Burt of Westhampton. They have had eight chil- 
dren, viz., Levi Lyman, b. Apr. 10, 1819, died 185- ; a 
child b. June 10, d. June 11, 1821; Martha, b. May 14, 
1822, m. Wooster Edwards; Joel, b. Aug. 3, 1824 ; Francis, b. 
Feb. 17, 1827 ; Susan, b. Sept. 1824, m. — Clapp, 1852 ; Geo. 
b. Oct. 11, 1831 ; and Enoch Hale, b. Mar. 27, 1834. 

8. "Sybilla Hale; b. Sept. 3,1797; m. 1819, Richard- 
son Hall. They have had ten children, viz., Sarah, b. Dec. 
14, 1819; m. Oct. 10, 1844, Henry Hooker; John R., b. 
Aug. 26, 1821 ; Charles, b. June 14, 1823 ; d. Nov. 14, 
1849; Almira, b. March 17, 1825; m. June 5, 1850, Ed- 
ward Dewey; William Hooker, b. March 17, 1827; Ed- 
ward, b. Dec. 9, 1829; Lsabella, b. Sept. 30, 1832; d. Aug. 
11,1833; Isabella, b. May 23,1834; d. Feb. 16, 1853; 
Mary E., b. Sept. 18, 1836; and Henry T. b. Dec. 14, 1839. 

''^Nathan Hale, the subject of the preceding memoir, 
died without issue, as already stated. 

'^^Richard Hale ; sixth son of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. 
Feb. 20, 1757; m. Mar. 16, 1786, Mary Wright of Coven- 
try ; he died Feb., 1793, at St. Eustatia in the W. Indies. 
His health had failed him, — and he had taken a voyage in 
hope of recovery. They had issue 

Gen. VL 1. «^Mary Hale; b. July 6, 1787; d. Dec. 10, 
1791. 

2. '"Laura Hale ; b. Aug. 30, 1789 ; m. her cousin Da- 
vid Hale, then of Boston ; (No. 72, post.) 



204 APPENDIX. 

8. ^"Mary ; b. Jan. 25, 1791 ; d. Oct. 2, 1793. 

After the death of Richard Hale, his widow married Na- 
than Adams of Canterbury, Conn., son of her father-in-law's 
second wife. They had no issue. She died in 1820. 

^"Billy Hale ; seventh son of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. 
Apr. 23, 1759 ; m. Jan. 19, 1784, Hannah Barker of Frank- 
lin. He died of consumption in 1785, — leaving one son. 

Gen. VI. 1. ■'^Billy ; died in early life. 

^^David Hale ; eighth son of Deacon Richard Hale; b. 
Dec. 14, 1761 ; graduated at Yale College, 1785 ;— settled 
as a minister in Lisbon, Ct. He m. May 19, 1790, Lydia 
Austin, b. Dec. 9, 1764 ; daughter of Samuel Austin of 
New Haven. In 1804, in poor health, he was dismissed 
from the church in Lisbon, and removed to Coventry, 
where he became a Deacon of the church in 1806. He 
was also Representative of the town, and Justice of the 
Court of Common Pleas. He died Feb. 10, 1822. His 
widow died April 28, 1849. They had issue one child, 
viz : 

Gen. VL 1. ^'^David Hale ; b. Apr. 25, 1791 ; m. 1st, his 
cousin Laura Hale, (No. 69, above,) Jan, 18, 1815. She 
died July 25, 1824. He m. 2nd, Aug. 22, 1825, Lucy S. 
Turner of Boston. 

"Joanna ; second daughter of Deacon Richard Hale ; b. 
March 19, 1764 ; m. Jan. 22, 1784, Dr. Nathan Howard of 
Coventry. He died Apr. 21, 1838, at the age of 77 years, 



GENEALOGY. 205 

and she the next day. They had nine children, all of 
whom died in early childhood except, 

Gen. VI. 1. "John Howard ; b. Nov. 10, 1784 ; m. 
Lucy Ripley, dau. of Judge Ripley of Coventry ; d. March 
30, 1813. Their sons are John Ripley Howard, and Chaun- 
cey Howard, the former of whom lives in Coventry, Conn., 
and the latter in Hartford, Conn., — where he has been 
Clerk of the Superior and County Courts, a member of the 
General Assembly, and is at present Treasurer and Secre- 
tary of the People's Savings Bank, He is a lawyer by pro- 
fession, and, like his brother, is unmarried. 

2. ''^Nathan Howard ; b. March 20, 1795, — unmarried. 

Of the families of those of Capt Nathan Hale's nephews 
who bore his name, we can give the following memo- 
randa. 

•^'Nathan Hale ; 1st son of ^^Rev. Enoch Hale ; b. Aug. 
IG, 1784; gr. Williams College, 1804, L. L. D., Harvard 
Univ., 1853. He has conducted for more than forty years 
the Boston Daily Advertiser. The active labors of his life 
have been largely devoted to the Internal Improvements of 
various States in America. He married, Sept. 5, 1816, Sarah 
Preston Everett, second daughter of Rev. Oliver Everett, 
minister of the new South Church, Boston. Their children 
are 

Gen. VII. 1. "Sarah Everett Hale ; b. July 8, 1817; d. 

May 16, 1851. 

18 



206 APPENDIX. 

2. '^Nathan Hale ; b. Nov. 12, 1818 ; gr. Harv. Coll. 
1838. Co-editor of Boston Daily Advertiser. 

3. '"Lucretia Peabody Hale ; b. Sept. 2. 1820. 

4. ^«Edward Everett Hale ; b. Apr. 3, 1822 ; gr. Harvard 
College 1839 ; minister of the Church of the Unity, Wor- 
cester, Mass., m. Oct. 13, 1852, Emily Baldwin Perkins, b. 
Nov. 22, 1830, daughter of Hon. Thomas C. Perkins, of 
Hartford, Conn. 

5. "A son ; born and died Apr. 3, 1824. 

6. ^"Alexander Hale ; born June 21, 1825 ; died Jan. 7, 
1826. 

r. «'Susan Hale ; born April 17, 1827 ; died Nov. 13, 
1833. 

8. «^ Alexander; b. July 1, 1829; gr. Harv. Coll., 1848; 
a civil engineer ; — lost in Pensacola harbor, in an attempt 
to rescue a shipwrecked crew, Aug. 22, 1850. 

9. ^'Charles; b. June 7, 1831; gr. Harv. Coll., 1850. 
Co-editor in Boston Daily Advertiser. 

10. ^^Susan Hale ; b. Dec. 5, 1833. 

11. «^Jane Hale; b. Mar. 6, 1837 ; d. Jan. 27, 1838. 
«^Richard Hale ; 3rd son of ^^Rev. Enoch Hale ; b. July 

2, 1792 ; m. Dec. 28, 1815, Lydia Rust. She d. Jan. 10, 
1837. He lived at Westhampton, and d. in 1839. 

Their Children are 

Gen. VH. 1. ^Thiletus C. Hale; b. Oct. 5, 1816; m. 



GENEALOGY. 207 

Dec. 19, 1839, Nancy H. Bannister, daughter of Jotliam 
and Electa Bannister, Newburyport, Mass. 

2. ^^Augustus E. Hale; b. Aug. 18, 1818 ; m. 1841, Ad- 
aline G. Smith, dau. of Abram and Mary Smith, of Sea- 
brook, N. H. 

3. ««Mary Hale; b. Sept. 4, 1820; m. Rev. Melzar Mon- 
tague — now of Wisconsin. 

4. «^Laura; b. Apr. 3rd, 1825; died at Westfield, Mass., 
Apr. 1855. 

"^David Hale, only son of ^^Rev. David Hale ; b. Apr. 25, 
1791 ; m. 1st, his cousin Laura Hale, (No. 69 above,) Jan. 
18, 1815. She died July 25, 1824. He married 2nd, Aug. 
22, 1825, Lucy S. Turner of Boston. The beginning of 
his active life was spent in Boston, in mercantile occupa- 
tions ; but in 1826 he removed to New York. Here he be- 
came the business partner in the management of the Jour- 
nal of Commerce newspaper, — and in the charge of that 
Journal, and in his active and earnest efforts in the estab- 
lishment of Congregational churches and other religious 
and charitable enterprises, became widely known and highly 
esteemed. His life, by Rev. J. P. Thompson, was pubhsh- 
ed in 1850. His children are 

Gen. VH. 1. ^"Mary Hale; b. Mar. 11, 1816; m. May 
27, 1839, J. N. Stickney— now of Rockville, Ct. 

2. ^^Lydia Hale; b. May 27, 1818; m. Apr. 23,1838, 
Dr. T. T. Devan of New York ; — accompanied him to Can- 



208 APPENDIX. 

ton as a missionary ; and died without issue Oct. 18^ 
1846. 

3. ''^Richard Hale; b. May 24, 1820; m. Oct. 28, 1844, 
Miss Julia Newlin. 

4. "David Austin Hale; b. Sept. 3, 1822; m. Sept. 3, 
1849, Miss M. I. Simonds of Athol, Mass. 

5. ^"Lucy Turner Hale; b. July 9,1826; m. May 20, 
1846, Stephen Conover, Jr., of New York. 

6. ^'Laura Hale ; b. Aug. 22, 1828 ; m. Dec. 21, 1848, J. 
W. Camp of New York. 

7. ''Charlotte Hale; born April 6, 1882. 

8. '^Martha Louisa Hale; b. Aug. 5, 1834; d. Jan. 8, 
1836. 

In the next generation, the Hales, who descend from 
Capt. Nathan Hale's brothers, are in the following lists. 

"Edward Everett Hale; b. Apr. 3,1822; m. Oct. 13, 
1852, Emily Baldwin Perkins of Hartford. They reside at 
Worcester, Mass., and have issue 

Gen. VIII. ««Ellen Day Hale ; b. Feb. 11, 1855. 

«Thiletus Hale; b. Oct. 5, 1816; m. Dec. 19, 1839, 
Nancy H. Bannister. They reside at Milwaukie, Wiscon- 
sin, and have issue 

Gen. VIII. 1. ^'Edward Augustus Hale ; b. Sept. 26, 
1840. 

2. ^o" William Richard Hale ; b. Aug. 28, 1842 ; d. Feb. 6. 
1843. 



GENEALOGY. 209 

3. '"William Henry Hale; b. July 8, 1845; d. Jan. 12, 
1846. 

4. '°^Mary Bannister Hale ; b. July 22, 1846 ; d. June 
26, 1851. 

5. '"'John Philetus Hale ; b. Aug. 23, 1850. 

6. ""Louise Randall Hale; b. July 9, 1853. 
"Augustus Hale; b. Aug. 18, 1818; m. 1841, Adaline 

G. Smith. They reside in Westhampton, Mass., and have 
issue 

Gen. VHI. 1. "^Laura Anna Hale ; b. August 12, 1842 ; 
d. Mar. 13, 1843. 

2. '"^Frank Augustus Hale ; b. Jan. 28, 1844. 

3. '"^Eugene Turner Hale ; b. May 22, 1846. 

4. '"^George WelHngton Hale ; b. Sept. 1849. 

5. '"'Isabella Eloise Hale ; b. May 28, 1853. 
^^Richard Hale; b. May 24, 1820; m. Oct. 28, 1844, 

Miss Julia Newlin. They reside in Ncu' York, and have 
issue 

Gen. VHI. ""Louisa Newlin Hale; b. July 22, 1845. 

2. '"Lydia Devan Hale ; b. Sept. 7, 1846. 

3. "'^David Hale ; b. Mar. 7, 1849 ; d. Jan. 28, 1853. 
'^'David Austin Hale ; b. Sept. 3, 1822 ; m. Sept. 3, 1849, 

Miss M. I. Simonds. They reside in New York. Their 
only child was 

Gen. VIII. "'William Nelson Hale ; b. June 20, 1850 ; 
d. July 15, 1855. 



210 APPENDIX. 

This brings the list of Hales of Richard Hale's family up 
to the present time. It would have been agreeable to have 
extended it farther by inserting the names of all the des- 
cendants of this venerable man, of whatever name. Bat 
this would have required more space than is at our com- 
mand ; while we should have assumed a duty which will 
be gratefully performed, we doubt not, by the genealogists 
of the respective families whose names these cousins bear. 



B. 

Page 14. 

Of Hale's Father. 

Deacon Hale possessed in addition to the qualities men- 
tioned in the text, remarkable physical energy — a character- 
istic which his son Nathan amply inherited. He was of the 
medium height, compactly built, and muscular — and in 
these respects too Nathan resembled his father, though the 
figure of the son was more comely, and singularly exact in 
its proportions. The activity of Deacon Hale was even 
restless. He was what is called in common parlance, 
"« driver^ Such was his eagerness to be at work, in the 
farming season, that, almost habitually, he would finish his 
meals before the rest of the family — rise— return thanks— 
and then immediately withdraw to the labors of the field, 
leaving his household to sit down again at the table, and 
complete their repast. His step-daughter Alice Adams— 
afterwards Mrs. Lawrence— used frequently to say that she 
^^ never saw a man icork so hard for both worlds as Deacon 
Sale!'' 



212 APPENDIX. 

His activity is further illustrated in the following some- 
what amusing incident furnished us by J. F. Judd Esquire, 
of Hartford, Connecticut — a gentleman who was born and 
brought up in near vicinity to the Hale homestead. 

In the haying season, Deacon Hale hired a tall, brawny 
countiyman, of uncommon strength, to help him house his 
crop. When in the field, he took upon himself the task of 
loading the hay upon the cart, and directed the freshly hired 
laborer to pitch it up to him. The latter began his work 
rather slowly, and Deacon Hale very soon called out to him — 
'■'■More hay I " This call he repeated three or four times, as 
cock after cock of hay was still somewhat lazily passed up 
to him — until finally his tardy helper — becoming sensible 
that his dilatoriness was thus rebuked — set himself to work 
with increased energy, and at last pitched the hay up so 
rapidly, that his employer was unable to place it aright upon 
the cart. Very soon, therefore, the whole load slipped off 
in one large mass upon the ground, and bore worthy Mr. 
Hale helplessly along with it. " What do you want. Dea- 
con?" — inquired at once the Hercules b}^ his side, with a 
self-satisfied and half-mocking air. '■'■ More hay !'''' instantly 
replied the undiscomfited deacon — and scrambling up, he 
nimbly replaced himself upon the cart. 



c. 

Page 24. 
Hale's Linonian Society Speech. 

The Speech, or Address, of which we have given a brief 
synopsis in the text, was delivered by Hale when he was 
but a boy of about seventeen — and though not, of course, 
a matured production, it is yet of so much interest — in the 
paucity of o'ther compositions from his pen — that we are 
tempted to preserve a few of its paragraphs here, just as 
they were written. We take then, first, a passage in which 
he compliments the retiring members of the Society. It is, 
verbatim, as follows : 

" The high opinion we ought to maintain of the ability of 
these worthy Gentlemen, as well as the regard they express 
for Linonia and her Sons, tends very much to increase our 
desire for their longer continuance. Under whatsoever 
character we consider them, we have the greatest reason to 
regret their departure. As our patrons, we have shared 
their utmost care and vigilance in supporting Linonia's cause, 



214 APPENDIX. 

and protecting her from the malice of her insulting foes. As 
our benefactors, we have partaken of their liberality, not 
only in their rich and valuable donations to our library, but, 
what is still more, their amiable company and conversation. 
But as our friends, what inexpressible happiness have we 
experienced in their disinterested love and cordial aifection ! 
We have lived together not as fellow-students and members 
of the same college, but as brothers and children of 
the same family ; not as superiors and inferiors, but 
rather as equals and companions. The only thing which 
hath given them the preeminence is their superior knowl- 
edge in those arts and sciences which are here cultivated,-' 
and their greater skill and prudence in the management of 
such important affairs as those which concern the good order 
and regularity of this Society. Under the prudent conduct 
of these our once M'orthy patrons, but now parting friends, 
things have been so wisely regulated, as that while we have 
been entertained with all the pleasures of famihar conversa- 
tion, we have been no less profited by our improvements in 
useful knowledge and literature." 

"Kind and generous Sirs" — Hale proceeds in a few sen- 
tences which we quote from his concluding direct address 
to the parting members — " it is with the greatest reluctance 
that we are now all obliged to bid adieu to you our dearest 
friends. Fain would we ask you longer to tarry — but it is 
otherwise determined, and we must comply. Accept then 



215 



our sincerest thanks, as some poor return for your disinter- 
ested zeal in Linonia's cause, and your unwearied pains to 
suppress her opposers. * * Be assured that we shall be 
spirited in Linonia's cause, and with steadiness and resolu- 
tion strive to make her shine with unparalleled lustre. * * 
Be assured that your memory will always be very dear to 
us ; that although hundreds of miles should interfere, you 
will always be attended with our best wishes. May Provi- 
dence protect you in all your ways, and may you have pros- 
perity in all your undertakings ! May you live long and 
happily, and at last die satisfied with the pleasures of this 
world, and go hence to that world where joy shall never 
cease, and pleasures never end I — Dear Gentlemen, fare- 
well!" 

Whatever may be thought of these passages from Hale 
in other respects, it will be conceded, we think, that they 
manifest simplicity of style, directness of expression, and 
great warmth of heart. 



D. 

Page 26. 
Hale's Classmates. 

The following, from a Yale College Catalogue, is a com- 
plete list of Hale's classmates. 

" 1773. Rogerus Alden, Mr. et Columb. Elisaeus Atkins, 
Mr. Gamaliel Babcock. Baruchus Beckwith, Mr. Thaddeus 
Benedict, Mr. Abrahamus Camp, Mr. Gulielmiis Chandler, 
Mr. Daniel Cooley. Samuel Dwight, Mr. Johannes Fairchild, 
Mr. Royal Flint, Mr., et Harv. Bildad Fowler. Isaacus Grid- 
ley, Mr. Johannes Gurley. Enochus Hale, ]\Ir. Nathan Hale, 
Mr. Joel Hayes, Mr. Jacobus Hillhouse, Mr., Thesaur., e 
Cong., Rerumpub. Feed. Sen., C. A. S. L. L. D. Stephanus 
Keyes. Samuel Leonard, Mr., et Harv. Gershom Clark Lyman, 
Mr., S. T. D. Mid. Elihu Marvin. Thomas Mead, Mr. Noa- 
chus Merwin, Mr. Samuel Montgomerj'. Johannes Nichols, 
Mr. Samuel Parsons, Mr. Guhelmus Robinson, Mr., et Tut. 
Ezra Sampson. Ezra Selden. Benjamin Tallmadge, Mr., e 
Cong., Gulielmus Townsend, Mr. Newtonus Whittlesey, Mr. 
Ebenezer Williams. Joshua Lamb Woodbridge. Johannes 
Palsgrave Wyllys, Mr." Of the above, twenty-one were, 
with Hale, members of the Linonian Society. 



E. 

Page 26. 
Sketch of Benjamin Tallmadge. 

Singularly enough, it was into the hands of Benjamin 
Tallmadge, Hale's classmate in college, that Hale's counter- 
part, the British spy Andre, was committed for custody, 
from the time of his capture down to that of his execution. 
This fact, and his intimate companionship with the hero of 
our biography, lead us to present a brief sketch of him 
here. 

He was born at Brookhaven, upon Long Island, New 
York, on the 25th of February, 1754, and was therefore one 
year older than Hale. Like the latter, he was active, intel- 
ligent, fond of study, and entered college at a very early 
age. Like Hale, and united with him in the same academi- 
cal honor, after graduating, he entered upon the duties of a 
teacher, in a school of high grade — at Wethersfield, Con- 
necticut — from which place he carried on assiduously that 
correspondence with the former which we have seen him 

commence in college. Like Hale, an ardent lover of his 
19 



218 APPENDIX. 

country, and attached to it from principle — leaving the 
charge of his school for the field of arms, he enlisted in the 
service of his native land as a lieutenant — but a few months 
later than his friend — in 1776, and in Colonel Chester's regi- 
ment. Unlike Hale, he was spared to rise rapidly in his 
military profession. He became a highly prominent and 
accomplished officer — served through the entire war — and 
emerged from it a colonel. He was soon made adjutant to 
Colonel Chester — and next captain of the first troop in the 
second regiment of light dragoons. His appearance on 
horseback, we are informed from various sources, was very 
striking. Of a tall and portly figure, no officer in the army, 
it is said, had a more noble and commanding presence. 

He participated in the battles of Long Island, and of 
"White Plains. In 1777, he was promoted to a majority — 
took his station as a field officer — and was present at the 
battles of Brandywine, Germantown, AYhite Marsh, and 
Monmouth. In 1779, he distinguished himself by breaking 
up a horde of marauding tory bandits at Lloyd's Neck — 
and in 1780, still more, by carrying Fort St. George, upon 
Long Island, at the point of the bayonet. For this last gal- 
lant service, he received the special thanks of the Com- 
mander-in-chief, and of Congress. It was accomplished 
with less than one hundred dismounted dragoons — just at 
break of day — and with such overwhelming force., that in 
less than ten minutes the stockade was cut down — the 



BENJAMIN TALL MADGE. 219 

column led through the grand parade — and the main fort 
was in possession of the attacking party. " The works, 
shipping, and stores were then destroyed ; and while the 
troops were marching to their boats with their prisoners — 
equal in numbers to themselves — Major Tallmadge with ten 
or twelve men, mounted on captured horses, proceeded to 
Coram and destroyed an immense magazine of forage, and 
returned to the place of debarkation just as the party with 
their prisoners had reached the same spot. Here they re- 
freshed themselves for an hour, and before four o'clock in the 
afternoon were again afloat on their return. They arrived 
at Fairfield that night without the loss of a man." 

It was from service of this kind — from a station on Long 
Island Sound, by particular direction of Washington, to 
protect its coast from illicit trade and intercourse, and from 
British foraging parties — that in 1780, Major Tallmadge 
returned to North Castle on the evening of the very day 
upon which Andre was brought in to this military post — 
and he was the first — from observing the deportment of the 
prisoner — from watching the manner in which he walked to 
and fro on the floor, and turned his heel to retrace his steps 
— to suspect that he was bred to arms, and was an import- 
ant British officer. From this time forward, down to that 
of the execution of Andre, Major Tallmadge was charged 
with his custody, and was almost constantly with him. He 
commanded the escort that conducted him to Lower Salem. 



220 APPENDIX. 

It was into his hands that Andre there placed, for perusal, 
his first letter to General Washington, acknowledging his 
true character. It was under his charge again, with a 
strong guard, that Andre was removed to Robinson's House 
— and thence to West Point — thence down the river in a 
barge to Stony Point — thence under an escort of cav- 
alry to Tappan — and thence, from the Stone House in which 
he had been confined. Major Tallmadge " walked with him 
to the place of execution, and parted with him uiider the 
gallows" — "overwhelmed with grief," he says, "that so 
gallant an officer and so accomplished a gentleman should 
come to such an ignominious end." 

He has left us a picture — a deeply interesting one — of his 
captive, and of his own intercourse with him — in a narra- 
tive which is published in the Life of Arnold by Jared 
Sparks* — and in one passage of this narrative he introduces 
the name and fate of his own "much-loved classmate" 
Hale, in a manner, and under circumstances, truly touching 
and impressive. The following is the passage — which, 
though it anticipates the course of our own narrative of 
Hale, we give here because of its particular connection with 
this sketch of his classmate. 

" Before we reached the Clove," Tallmadge proceeds, 
"Major Andre became very inquisitive to know my opinion 



* Page 255, and infra. 



BENJAMIN TALLMADGE. 221 

as to the result of his capture. In other words, he wished 
me to give him candidly my opinion, as to the light in 
which he would be viewed by General Washington, and a 
military tribunal, if one should be ordered. This was the 
most unpleasant question that had been propounded to me, 
and I endeavored to evade it, unwilling to give him a true 
answer. When I could no longer evade his importunity, 
or put off a full reply, I remarked to him as follows. " I 
had a much loved classmate in Yale College, by the name 
of Nathan Hale, who entered the army in the year 1775. 
Immediately after the battle of Long Island, General Wash- 
ington wanted information respecting the strength, position, 
and probable movements of the enemy. Captain Hale 
tendered his services, went over to Brooklyn, and was taken 
just as he w^as passing the outposts of the enemy on his 
return." — Said I with emphasis, "Do you remember the 
sequel of this story ? "— " Yes," said Andre, " he was hanged 
as a spy. But you surely do not consider his case and mine 
alike ? " — I replied, " Yes, precisely similar, and similar will 
be your fate." He endeavored to answer my remarks, but 
it was manifest he was more troubled in spirit than I had 
ever seen him before." 

While Tallmadge was in the army, in and around New 
York, he, like Hale, it is worthy of particular remark, was 
honored with the special confidence of General Washington 

in hazardous secret service. For several years— indeed 
19* 



222 APPENDIX. 

throughout the war — he conducted for Washington, and 
under his especial instructions, all that occult correspond- 
ence with persons in New York, or elsewhere within the 
British lines — well-affected to the American cause, but out- 
wardly in amity with the enemy — which the Commander-in- 
chief is well known to have maintained — and for this busi- 
ness he kept one or more boats constantly employed in 
crossing Long Island Sound. 

At the close of the war — in 1784 — after marrying Mary, 
the daughter of General William Floyd, of Mastic, Long 
Island — he removed to Litchfield, Connecticut, where he 
engaged largely in mercantile pursuits, and lived the remain- 
der of his life. Losing his first wife in 1805, he in 1808 
married Maria, the daughter of Joseph Hallet Esquire, of 
the City of New York. He had several children — one of 
whom, the Honorable Frederic A. Tallmadge, is the late 
eminent Recorder of the City of New York. From 1800, 
for sixteen successive years, he was a member of Congress 
from Connecticut, and discharged his trust with ability and 
high integrity. He died March 7th, 1835, a tranquil death 
— "with a joyful hope and Christian confidence." Zealous, 
enterprising, patriotic, honorable, benevolent, "the influence 
of his example was felt in every good work, and all who 
knew him loved and venerated him." 



R 

Page 36. 
Sketch of Mks. Lawrence. 

The following sketch of the appearance, mind, and man- 
ners of Mrs. Lawrence — from the pen of a highly intelligent 
lady, one of her grand-daughters, who long lived in her 
society and home — will be found very interesting. It is in 
no respect exaggerated, as we learn from various sources — 
but, on the other hand, is accurate and just. Though 
communicated to us in the form of a note, and not designed 
for publication, we cannot forbear the pleasure of present- 
ing it to our Readers here. Speaking of her grandmother, 
the writer thus proceeds : 

" In person she was rather below the middle height, with 
a full, round figure — ^rather petite. She possessed a mild, 
amiable countenance, in which was reflected that intellect- 
ual superiority which distinguished her even in the days of 
Dwight, Hopkins, and Barlow, in Hartford — ^men who could 
appreciate her, who delighted in her wit and worth, and 



224 APPENDIX. 

who, with a coterie of others of that period who are still in 
remembrance, considered her one of the brightest ornaments 
of their society. 

"A fair, fresh complexion, obtained in her early country 
life — ^bright, intelligent hazel eyes, and hair of a jetty black- 
ness — ^will give you some idea of her looks — ^the crowning 
glory of which was the forehead, that surpassed in beauty 
any I ever saw, and was the admiration of my maturer 
years. I portray her, with the exception of the hair, as she 
appeared to me in her eighty -eighth year. I never tired of 
gazing on her j^outhful complexion — upon her eyes, which 
retained their natural lustre unimpaired, and enabled her 
to read without any artificial aid — and upon her hand and 
arm, which, though shrunken somewhat from age, must, in 
her younger days, have been a fit study for a sculptor. 

" Her character was everything that was lovel}'. A lady 
who had known her many years, writing to me after her 
death, says — ' Never shall I forget her unceasing kindness 
to me, and her noble and generous disposition. From my 
first acquaintance with her, and amidst all the varied trials 
through which she was called to pass, I had ever occasion 
to admire the calm and beautiful Christian spirit she uni- 
formly exhibited. To yoii I will say it, I never knew so 
faultless a character — so gentle, so kind. That meek 
expression, and that affectionate eye^ are as present to my 
recollection nou-, as though I liad seen them but yesterday.' 



MRS. LAWRENCE. 225 

"Such is the language of one who had known her 
long and well^ and whose testimony would be considered 
more impartial than that of one, who, like myself, had 
been the constant recipient of her unceasing kindness and 
affection." 



G. 

' Page 57. 

Hale's Diary. 

The following is the Diary of Captain Nathan Hale, to 
which reference is made in the text — ^and in the precise 
shape in which it was written by him. It has no pretension 
to any formality of plan, or elegance of composition, but is 
a succinct, often extremely abbreviated statement of events 
and experiences in his life, chiefly from the time he left New 
London with his military company, until, with the army 
from around Boston, he marched for New York. A few 
pages are torn from the Camp Book which contains it — ^two 
or three from the beginning of the Diary, and one contain- 
ing the entries of two days in November, With this 
exception, and a break also in the Diary from September the 
thirtieth to October sixth, and again upon the sixteenth of 
October, the entries are regular and uninterrupted from 
September twenty -third, 1775, to December the thirty-first. 
They begin again January twenty-fourth, 1776, and run 



227 

over seven days. Two more in February, and four after 
Hale reached New York, complete the series of his memo- 
randa. The facts they contain are, many of them, of his- 
torical value. Even the httle personal experiences and 
employments to which they allude, otherwise unimportant, 
will grow into some consequence with the Reader, when 
associated with the patriotic Martyr-Spy. They will all be 
found interesting, particularly so when we reflect that, with 
a few letters, and a single college composition, they form 
everything that is left us from the pen of one, who, had he 
lived to mature his youthful powers, to nurse his intellect, 
and polish his tastes, would probably have been a bright 
ornament either to the pulpit or the bar, or have graced 
perhaps the paths of literature as much as he graced the 
path of patriotism. 

"[Sep. 23'^''.] Cannon, 40 or 50, heard from the last 
stage to the present. Marched 3| O'Cl — and arrived [at] 
Watermans, (a private house and entertainment good) after 
a stop or two. 6| O'Cl., 6 m. — tarried all night. 

"24^ Mch'd 6 O'Cl., and at 8 O'Cl., reach'd Olney's, 4 
m. — 10 O'Cl., mch'd from Olney's 2 miles, and reached 
Providence, but made no stop. Having march'd thro' the 
town with music, and mde a sht stp at the hither part, in 
the road, came 4 miles further to Slacks in Rehoboth, where 
we dined.* 4 O'CL, mch'd from Slacks 6 m., and reach'd 

*" Received, Rehoboth, Sept. 24, 1775, of Nathan Hale Lieutt of Majr Lati- 



228 • APPENDIX. 

Daggetts in Attleborough, and put up, depositing our arms 
in the mtt^ House. Soon after our arrival join'd by the 

Maj"", who set out from home the nt bef . 

" 25'\ March'd soon after sunrise — and came very fast 
to Dupree's in Wrentham, 9 m. to Breakfast. Arv'd 9 O'Cl. 

11 set off, and 1^ P. M. arv'd [at] Hidden's, Walpole, and 
there din'd and tarried till 4^ O'CL, and then march'd to 
Dedham, 7 m., and put up. 

"Tuesday 26'\ Mch'd 5 m. before Breakfast to . 

For Dinner went 4^ m. to Parkers, which is within a mile 
and a half from Camp. At our arrival in Camp found that 
200 men had been draughted for a fishing party. Pitched 
our tents for the present in Roxbury, a little before sunset. 

" Wednesday 27'^ Went to some of our lower works. 

12 or 15 of the fishing party return, and bring 11 Cattle and 

2 horses. 

" Thursday 28"". Fishing party returned. 
" Friday 29''\ Mch'd for Cambridge. Arv'd 3 O'Cl., and 
encamped on the foot of Winter hill, near General Sullivan's, 

3 Com'«^ Maj""" C Shipmans, Bostwick. 

" Sat. 80"'. Considerable firing upon Roxbury side in the 



mer's Company, five shillings and ten pence lawful money for the use of my 
house and other trouble by sd Company. 

Eliphalet Slack." 
Several similar receipts, in the handwriting of Hale, save the signature, 
enabling us to trace his positions, are found in his Cnmp-Book. 



hale's diary. 229 

forenoon, and some P. M. No damage done as we hear. 
Join'd this day by Cp^* Perril and Levnwth about 4 O'Cl. 

"Octo. Q'\ 1775. Near 100 Can" fired at Roxbury from 
the Enemy. Shot oflf a man's arm, and kill'd one Cow. 

" 7"^. Some firing from Boston neck — nil mat. 

" 8^^ Sab. A. M. rainy — no meet^. Mr Bird pr. Water- 
town P. M. "Went to meet^ on the hill. Mr Smith pr. 

" 9'^, Monday. Morn° clear and pleas^ but cold. Exers*^ 
men 5 O'Cl. 1. h. 

"Tuesday 10'^ Went to Roxbury— dined with Doc*'' 
Wolcott at General Spencers Lodg^ P. M. rode down to 
Dorchester, M'ith a view to go on upon the point ; but Col' 
Fellows told us he could give us no leave, as we had been 
informed in town. Return'd to Camp 6 O'Cl. 

" Wed. 11'^ Bro' Joseph here in the morning — went to 
Cams« 12 O'CL— sent a letter to Bro"" Enoch by Sam' Turner. 
Inform'd by Jop** that he was to be examin'd to day for — . 
Saw Royal Flynt — ^pr*^ to write him. Rec^ a letter from Gil. 
Salt' w*" inf^ y^ Schooner by St Johns taken — all y® men 
kilF, and yt 8,000 bush'" of wheat had been taken and car- 
ried to Norwich f "^ Christ. Champlin's ship run agr*^ at 
Stonins'". Rec'^ letter Q'^ fi^om Gil. Salt. Do 9"^ f™ John 
Hallam — S'** E. Hale. A heavy thunder show*" in y* even^. 

" Thurs. 12*^ Wrote 6 letters to N. L. Saw C Sage. 

jjjfmci Montreal held by Montgomery — St Johns ofif*^ to 

capitulate, but refusing to deliver guns, Johnson's terms 
20 



230 APPENDIX. 

were refused ; but must soon surrender. P. M. "Went 
into Cambridge. Took the Camb^* Paper — pd 8 coppers. 

" Friday 13'\ Inf'"'^ hy"L' Col' that Col' Webb last night 
gave orders that Field Officers Lieutenants should wear yel- 
low Ribbons — put in one accordingly. Walk^ to Mis'" for 
clothes. ******** 

"Sat. 14^\ Mounted picket guard. Gov' Griswold at 
plough*^ hill. Rumours of 25,000 troops from England. 

" Sab. IS"'. Mr Bird pr. P. M. After meeting walk'd to 
Mistick. 

" Tuesday 17"". A Serg' Major; deserted to the Regulars. 

"Wed. IS^*". A Private deserted to the enemy. Last 
night a cannon split in our floats batt'ry M'hen fir= upon B. 
Common — 1 of our men kill'd — another said to be mortally 
wounded — 6 or 7 more wounded. Rec'^ Letters — G. Salston- 
tall, le'*"— J. Hallam, 14"^— E. Hallam, IS^''— E. Adams, 
16'^ In Mr. Sals" Letter rec** News of the publishment of 
Thomas Poole and Betsey Adams on the IS"". 

" Thursday 19^^ Wrote 4 letters— to Messrs. G. Sals' and 
John Hallam, and to Misses Bet. Adams and Hallam. 3 
people inhabitants of Boston sd to have escaped on Roxy 
side last night. Several guns were fired at them which were 
heard here at Winter hill. This morning one of our horses 
wand'' down near the enemy's lines, but they durst not ven- 
ture over to take him on account of Rifle" placed at y^ old 
Chimy ready to fire upon them. A sick man at Temples 
found to have the small pox. 



231 

"Friday 20'^ Wet and rainy. News from Roxbury y* 
9 persons, 5 of them inhabitants, and 4 of them Sailors, 
made their escape last night from Boston to Dorchester 
Point, who bring accounts y' 10,000 Hanoverian & 5,000 
Scotch and Irish Troops are hourly expected in Boston. 
Cpt. Perrit ref^ sunset from Connecticut. News y' Col. 
Jos'' Trumbull Comm^ Gen' was at the point of Death. 

" Sat. 21 ^^ Constant rain & for y^ most part hard for y« 
whole day. A letter communicated to the off" of y* Reg^ f "" 
G. Washgt" to Col' Webb with orders to see what Off" will 
extend y^ term of th'' service f" 6*'' Deccmb"" to 1" Jan^ — Col. 
Webb issu'd ord"^^ for removing a man who was yesterday 
discovered to have y® small pox from Temple's house to y^ 
hospital — but the off" remonstrating, suspended his orders. 
Sun set clear. 

" Sab. 22"^. Mounted piquet guard — had charge of the 
advance Piquet. Nil. mem. Mistick Commy refus'd to 
deliver prov^°* to Comp'^^ which had had nothing for y® day. 
On which Cpt. Tuttle and 60 or 70 men went, and as it 
hap"*^ terror instead of force obtain'd the provisions. On 
Piquet heard Reg''^ at work with pick axes. One of our 
Centries heard their G. Rounds give the Countersign — which 
was Hamilton. Left P. guard, and ret*^ to C^ at sunrise on 
the— 

"23'^'^ Mon. 10 O'Cl., went to Cambridge w^'' Fid Coms"^ 
officers to Gen' Putnam, let him know the state of the Reg^ 



232 APPENDIX. 

and y' it was thro' ill usage upon the Score of Provisions y' 
thy wld not extend their term of service to the 1*' of Jan? 
1776. Din'd at Browns— dr'' 1 bottle wine— walk'd about 
street — call'd at Josh. Woodbridge's on my way — ref^ home 
about 6 O'Cl. Kec*^ confirmation of day before yesterday's 
report y* Capt. Coit mdc an Admiral. Rec'^ lett. Ed. Hal- 
lam, 15^ 

" 25*^ Tuesday. Some rain. W to Mistick with clothes, 
to be washed (viz. 4 Shirts, Do Necks, 5 pair Stockings, 1 
Napkin, 1 Table Cloth, 1 Pillow case, 2 Linen and 1 Silk 
Handkerchief) P. M. Got Brick and Clay for Chimney. 
Winter Hill came down to wrestle, w^ view to find out our 
best for a wrestling match to which this hill was stumped by 
Prospect, to be decided on Thursday ensu^. Evening Pray- 
ers omitted for wrestling. 

"25^^ Wednesday— no letters. 

" 26'^ Thursday. Grand Wrestle on Prospect Hill— ^o 
wager laid. 

"Friday, 27'^ Mess'* John Hallam and David Mumford 
arvd. 

" Sat. 28^''. Somewhat rainy. 

" Sab. 29'^. Went to meeting in the barn — one exercise. 
After meeting walk'd with Cpt Hull and Mr Hallam to 
Mistick. 

" Sat. 28'*^. At night Serg' of the enemy's guard deserted 
to us. 



233 

" Monday, 30^''. Some dispute with the Subalterns, about 
Cpt Hull and me acting as Captains. The Col. and Lieut 
Col. full in it that we ought to act in that capacity. Brigade 
Maj' and Gen' Lee of the same opinion. Presented a peti- 
tion to Gen' Washington for Cpt Hull and myself, request- 
ing the pay of Cpts — refused. Mr Gurley here at Din'. P. 
M. Went into Cambridge with Mr. Mumford. 

"Tuesday, 31'*. Wrote letters to Father, and brother 
John and Enoch. P. M. Went to Cambridge — dr. wine &c 
at Gerf Putnams. 

" Wednesday, Novem. 1'*. Mounted Piquet guard — nil 
mem. Rec'd 3 Letters fr"" S. Belden, G. Salt, and B. Hal- 
lam. The 1*' inf'"'^ he had no Scarlet Coating &c., and also 
reminded me of 20s due to him by way of change of a 40s 
Bill rec'd for SchooHng (forgot.) 2"^^ inf '"'^ that (as per Phila- 
delphia paper) Peyton Randolph died of an Apoplexy 22"^ 
ult. 3'"'' inf '"'^ Sherifif Christopher is dead. 

"Wed. 1^ Came off from Piquet Guard 10 O'Cl. 11 
do w* to Cam^^ with Cpt Hull — dined at Gen' Putnam's with 
Mr. Learned. Inf""^ Mr Howe died at Hartford 2 months 
ago — not heard of before. Col^ Parson's Reg' under arms 
to suppress y* mutinous proceedings of Gen' Spencer's 
Reg* — one man hurt in the neck by a bayonet (done yester- 
day.) Ret"Jto Camp 6 O'Cl. 

" Thursday 2°'^. Rain constantly, sometimes hard. Re- 



20* 



234 APPENDIX. 

ceiv'd a flying Report that the Congress had declared 
independency. 

" Friday 3"^. Nil mem. 

" Sat. 4:^\ Mr Learned and myself din'd at CoP Halls. 
Deac" Kingsbury's son visited me. P. M. Cpt Hull and 
myself w* to Prospect Hill. 

" Sunday 5*'\ A. M. Mr. Learned pr. John 13, 19 — excel- 
lentissime. A little after twelve a considerable number of 
cannon from the Enemy, in memory of the day. Din'd with 
Cpt Hull at Gen' Putnams. Rec'd news of the taking of 
Fort Chamblee, with 80 odd soldiers, about 100 women & 
children, upwards of 100 barrels of Powder, more than 200 
barrels of pork, 40 do of flour, 2 Mortars and some cannon. 
The women, -^-ives to Officers in St Johns, were brought to 
St Johns, and there their Husbands permitted to come out, 
and after spending some time with them, return. Also 
News of a vessel taken by one of our privateers fr. Phi^ to 
B-n, w'' 104 pipes of wine — another from the West Indies 
with the produce of that Country. Rec'd a letter from bro. 
Enoch — Nov. 1. Coventry pr. Daniel Robertson, who is to 
make me a visit tomorrow. The paper, in which the Officers 
sent in their names for new commissions return'd for more 

Subalterns. Ens" Pond and put down th' names. 

Those who put down their names the first offer, [are] Col^ 
Webb and Hall, Capt' Hoyt, Tuttle, Shipman, Bostwick, 
Perrit, Levenworth, Hull and Hale — Sub' Catland. 



hale's diary. 235 

" Monday, 6^\ Mounted Piquet guard in y^ place of Cpt 
Levenworth. A Rifleman deserted to y® Regulars. Some 
wet. Day chiefly spent in Jabber and Chequers. Cast an eye 
upon Young's Mem", belong- to Col. Yarnum — a very good 
book. Comp' of y^ bad condition of y® lower Piquet by 
Maj"^ Cutler &c. It is of the utmost importance that an 
Officer should be anxious to know his duty, but of greater 
that he shd carefully perform what he does know. The 
present irregular state of the army is owing to a capital neg- 
lect in both of these. 

"Tuesday, 7'^ Left Piquet 10 O'Clock. InfJ Maj-^ 
Brooks app^*^ for this Reg* — new establishment — wh. occasa 
much uneasiness among the Cpts. Rain pretty hard most 
of the day. Spent most of it in the Maj"^, my own and other 
tents in conversation — some chequers — Studied y^ best 
method of forming a Reg' for a review, of arraying y« Com- 
panies, also of marching round y^ reviewing Officer. A man 
ought never to lose a moments time. If he put off a thing 
from one minute to the next, his reluctance is but increased. 

" Wednesday S^\ Cleaned my gun— pld some football, 
and some chequers. Some People came out of Boston via 
Roxby. Rec'd N. of Cpt Coit's taking two prizes, with 
Cattle, poultry, hay, rum, wine, &c. &c. — also verbal accounts 
of the taking of St Johns. 

"Thursday, 9*^ 1 O'Cl. P. M. An alarm. The enemy 
landed at Lechmeres Point, to take off cattle. Our works 



236 APPENDIX. 

were immediately all mann'd, and a detachment sent to 
receive them, who were obliged, it being high water, to wade 
through water nearly waist high. While the Enemy were 
landing, we gave them a constant Cannonade from Prospect 
Hill. Our party having got on to the point, marched in two 
columns, one on each side of y^ hill, with a view to sur- 
round y^ enemy, but upon the first appearance of them, 
they made their boats as fast as possible. While our men 
were marching on to y* point, they were exposed to a hot fire 
from a ship in the bay, and a floating Battery — also after 
they had passed the hill. A few shot were fired from Bun- 
ker's Hill. The damage on our side is the loss of one Rifle- 
man taken, and three men wounded, one badly, and it is 
thought 10 or more cattle carried off. The Rifleman taken 
was drunk in a tent, in which he and the one who received 
the worst wound were placed to take care of the Cattle, 
Horses &c., and give notice in case the enem}^ should make 
an attempt upon them. The tent they were in was taken. 
What the loss was on the side of the enemy we cannot yet 
determine. At night met with the Capt^ of y^ new estab- 
lishment at Gen' SuUivans to nominate Subalterns. Lieut* 
Bourbank of Col' Doolittle's Reg' made my 1^' L' — Sergt 
Chapman 2"'', & Serg' Hurlburt Ens". 

"Friday, 10'\ Went upon the hill to see my new Lieut 
Bourbank, and found him to be no very great things. On 
my return foimd that my Br. & Joseph Strong had been 



237 

here and enquired for me. Immediately after dinner went 
to Cambr. to see them, but was too late. Went to head 
quarters — saw Gen^ Sullivan, and gave him a description of 
my new Lt. He said he would make enquiry concerning 
him. On my return fo. the abo. Lt at my tent, agr^^^ to my 
invitation. After much round about talk persuaded him to 
go with me to the Gen\ to desire to be excused from the 
service. The Gen^ not being at home, deferr'd it till another 
time. 

"Saturday, 11*^ Some dispute about the arrangement 
of Subs. — but not peaceably settled. 

" Sunday 12^^ This morning early a meeting of Capts., 
upon the above matter, and not ended until near noon. No 
meeting A. M. P. M. Mr Bird pr. 

"Monday, IS"". Our people began to dig turf under 
Cobble Hill. Inlistments delivered out. At night a man 
of our Reg* attempted to desert to the Reg^', but was 
taken. 

" Tuesday, 14'^ Some uneasiness about Subs. P. M. 
Went to Cambr. nil mem. Gen' orders of to day contained 
an account of the reduction of St Johns. Dig= sods under 
Cobble Hill continued." 

Here follow, copied by Hale's hand, long and minute 
^^ Directions for the Chiards'''' — twenty-one Articles in 
number — after which his Diary thus continues : 

"Wednesday, 15'''. Mounted Main guard. Heard read 



238 APPENDIX. 

the articles of surrender of St Johns. Likewise an account 
of the repulse of our piratical enemies at Hampton in Vir- 
ginia, with the loss of a number of men — (in a handbill). 
Three deserters made their escape from Boston to Roxbury 
last night. Two prisoners were taken this afternoon in the 
orchard below Plough'd Hill, who, with some others, were 
getting apples. They bring accounts that it was reported 
in Boston that our army at St Johns was entirely cut off. 
That last week when they attempted to take oiir cattle at 
Sewels point they kill'd 50 or 60 of our men, wounded as 
many more, and had not a man either killed or wounded — 
whereas in truth we had only one that was much wounded, 
and he is in a way to recover. Rec'd a letter from J. 
Hallam. 

"Thursday, IG'^. Releiv'd from Piquet, 8| O'Cl. Con- 
fined James Brown of Cpt Hubbel's company for leaving 
the guard, which he did yesterday towards night, and did 
not return until 4 O'Cl. this morning, when he was taken 
up by the centinel at the door of Temple's House. As it 
appeared he was somewhat disguised with liquor, I ordered 
him confined and reported. 

" Thursday 16^^ Wrote two letters— 1 to J. Hallam, and 
1 to G. Salt'. It being Thanksgiving in Connecticut, the 
Capts and officers in nomination for the new army had an 
entertainment at T's house provided by Capt. Whitney's 
Sutler. They were somewhat merry, and inlisted some 






289 

soldiers. I was not present. About 10 or 11 O'Cl. at night 
Orders came for reinforcing the Piquet with 10 men from a 
Corny. 

"Friday, 17'^ Rec'd an order from Colonel Hall for 
taking up at the continental Store 4 pr Breeches, 6 Do 
Stock=S 5 Do Shoes, 1 Shirt, 1 buff Cap, 1 pr Indian Stock^^ 
51 y"^' of Coat^,— -all which I got but the Shirt, Indian 
Stock^', ly y*^ Coat"', and shoes, which are to come tomor- 
row morning. Cpt. Hull w*** some of his soldiers went w"* 
me to Camb«^^ Return'd after dark. Stop'd at Gen' Lees 
to see about FurP for men inlisted, who ordered the gen' 
orders for the day to be read, by which Furloughs are to be 
given by Col'^ only, and not more than 50 at a time must 
have them out of a Reg*. Gen' orders further contained 
that the Congress had seen fit to raise the pay of the officers 
from what they were — and that a Cpt. upon the new estab- 
lishment is to receive 26f Dollars per month — a 1^' and 2"^ 
Lieu' 18 Dollars, and an Ens" 13^ Dollars. 

"Saturday, 18'^ Obtained an order from Colo. Webb 
upon the Q. M. G. for things for the soldiers. Went for 
them afternoon — ^returned a little after Sunset. 

"Sabbath Day, 19*^ Mr Bird pr.^-one service only, 
beginning after 12 O'Cl. Text Esther 8*'' 6. For how can 
I endure to see the evil that shall come unto my people, or 
how can I endure to see the destruction of my kindred ? 
The discourse very good — the same as preached to Geni 



240 APPENDIX. 

"Wooster, his oflBcers and Soldiers, at Newhaven, and which 
was again preached at Cambridge a Sabbath or two ago. 
Now preached as a farewell discourse. Robert Latimer, the 
Maj'"* son, went to Roxbury to day on his way home. The 
Maj"^ who went there to day, and Lt Hurlburt, and Robert 
Latimer F, who went yesterday, returned this even? and b* 
ace'' that the Asia Man of War, stationed at New York, 
was taken by a Schooner armed with Spears &c., which at 
first appeared to be going out of the Harbour, and was bro' 
too by y^ Asia, and instead of coming under her stern, just 
as she come up shot along side. The men who were before 
conceal'd, immediately sprung up with their lances &c., and 
went at it with such vigor that they soon made themselves 
masters of the ship. The kill'd and wounded not known. 
This account not credited. Sergeant Prentis thought to be 
dying about 12 Meridian — some better, if any altera t" this 
evening. 

"Monday 20"'. Obtain'd furloughs for 5 men, viz., Isaac 
Hammon, Jabez Minard, Christopher Beebe, John Holmes, 
and William Hatch, each for 20 Days. Mounted m" Guard 
— 4 prisoners — nil mem., until 10 O'Cl, when an alarm from 
Cambr. and Prospect Hill, occasioned our turning out. 
Slept little or none. 

"Tuesday, 2P'. Releiv'd by Cpt Hoyt. Serg' Prentis 
very low. Colo, and some Cpts went to Cambr. to a Court 



hale's diaey. 241 

M., to Opt Hubbel's Trial, adjourn'd from yesterday to day. 
Evening spent in conversation. 

"Wednesday, 22"*^. Serg' Prentis died about 12 O'Cl. 
last night. Tried to obtain a furlough to go to Cape Ann, 
and keep Thanksgiving, but could not succeed. Being at 
Gen' Sullivans, heard Gen' Green read a letter from a mem- 
ber of the Congress, expressing wonder at the Backward- 
ness of the Off'" and Soldiers to tarry the winter — likewise 
informing that the men inlisted fast in Pennsylvania and y^ 
Jersies for 30s. per month. Some hints dropt as if there 
was to be a change of the " 

Here a leaf of the Camp-Book is gone, and the Diary 
recommences as follows : 

" Saturday, 25"^. Last night 2 sheep kill'd belonging to 
the En'"''. This morning considerable firing between the 
Gentries. A Rifleman got a Dog from the Regulars. Col. 
Varnum offer'd a Guinea for him, the [same] that Gen' Lee 
had offer'd. 10 O'Cl, A. M. went to Cobble Hill to view. 
Another brought to the Ferry way — two there now. P. M. 
Went to Cambr. Ret"^ Sunset. * * * Heard further 
that 200 or 300 poor people had been set on shore last night 
by the Regulars — the place not known, but s*^ to be not 
more than 6 or 8 miles from hence. Cannon were heard 
this forenoon, seeming to be off in the bay, and at some 
distance. Observ'd in coming from Cambr. a number of 
21 



242 APPENDIX. 

Gabines at Gen' Lee's, said to be for the purpose of fortify- 
ing upon Lechmeres point. 

" 26^^ Sunday. William Hatch of Major Latimer's Co., 
died last night, having been confin'd about one week — He 
has the whole time been in , and great part of it out of 
his Senses. His distemper was not really known. He was 
buried this afternoon — few people attended his funeral. Re- 
ported that the people were set ashore at Chelsea, and 
bring ace'' that the Troops in Boston had orders to make 
an attack on Plough'd Hill, when we first began our works 
there, but the OflBcers, a number of them, went to Gen^ 
Howe, and offered to give up their Commissions, absolutely 
refusing to come out and be butchered by the Americans. 
Mounted Main Guard this morning. Snowy. Lt Chapman 
rec'd Recruiting ord", and set out home, proposing to go 
as far as Roxb^ to day. 

"27"', Monday. Nil. mem. Evening went to Gen' Lee's, 
whom I found very much cast down at the discouraging 
prospect of supplying the army with troops. 

" 28'^, Tuesday. Promised the men if they would tarry 
another month, they should have my wages for that time. 
Gen' Sullivan return'd. Sent order to Fraser Q. M., to 
send us some wood. "Went to Camb"". — could not be served 
at the store. Return'd — observ'd a greater number of Ga- 
bines at Gen' Lee's. Inf '^ at Camb''. y* Gen' Putnam's Reg' 
mostly concluded to tarry another month. (This a lie.) 



H ale's diary. 243 

" 29*'', Wednesday. The Reg* drawn up before Gen' 
Sullivan's. After he had made them a most excellent 
speech, desired them to signify their minds, whether they 
would tarry till the first of January. Very few fell out, 
but some gave in their names afterwards. Read News of 
the taking of a vessel loaded w*'* ordinance and stores. 

" 30"', Thursday. Obtained a furlough for Ens" Hurl- 
burt for 20 Days. Sent no letters to day on account of 
the hurry of business. 

[December.] " 1'*, Friday. W* to Cambridge. A Num- 
ber of men, about 20 in the whole, confined for attempting 
to go home. Our Reg* this morning, by means of General 
Lee universally consented to tarry until the Militia came in, 
and by far the greater part agreed to stay until the first of 
Jan. 

" 2*^, Saturday. Orders rec'd to the Reg* that no one 
Officer or Soldier should go beyond Drum call from his 
alarm post. Went to Mistick with Gen' Sullivan's order on 
Mr. Fraser for things wanted by the Soldiers who are to 
tarry, till the 1'* of January, but found he had none. 

"S'', Sunday. Wet weather. No pr. Ev= got an ord"^ 
from B. G. Sullivan upon Colo. Mifflin for the above men- 
tioned articles, not to be had at Frasers. 

"4*'", Monday. Went to Cambridge to draw the above 
articles, but the order was not accepted. Rec'd News y< 
several prizes had been taken by our Privateers, among 



244 APPENDIX. 

which was a Vessel from Scotland, ballast'd with coal — the 
rest of her cargo dry goods. Cpt Bulkley and Mr. Cham- 
berlain, from Colchester, with cheese. Purchased 107 lbs 
at 6p. per lb., for which I gave an order upon Maj' Latimer. 

"5th, Tuesday. Rec'd News of the Death of John Bow- 
ers, Gunner in Cpt Adam's Privateer, formerly of Maj'^ Lat- 
imers Company. 

u gth -^g(jngg(jay Upon main Guard. Nil. mem. Rec'd 
some letters per Post. Col. Doolittle, Officer of the Day, 
inf*^ that Col. Arnold had arrived at point Levi near 
Quebec. 

a ^th^ Thursday. Went to Cambridge to draw things. 

" S***, Friday. Did some writing. Went P. M. to draw 
money for our expenses on the road from N. L. to Rox- 
bury, but was disappointed. 

" 9"^, Nil mem. Saturday. 

" 10*^ Struck our tents, and the men chiefly marched 
off. Some few remaining came into my room. At night 
Charles Brown, Daniel Talbot, and W" Carver returned 
from Privateering. Assisted Maj"" Latimer in making out 
his Pay Roll. Somewhat unwell in the evening. 

"11th, Monday. Finished the pay roll, and settled 
some accounts— about 12 O'Cl. Maj"" Latimer set out home. 
1 or more Companies came in to day for our relief. 

"12*'', Tuesday. A little unwell yesterday and to day. 
Some better this evening. 



hale's diaky. 245 

" 13*^ Wednesday. On Main Guard. Rec'd and wrote 
some letters. Read the History of Philip. 

" 14th, Thursday. Went to Cambridge. Visited Maj'' 
Brooks — found him unwell with an ague. Capt. Hull 
taken violently ill yesterday — remains very bad to day — 
has a high fever. 

" 15*^ Friday. Nil mem. 

" 16^^, Sat. Our people began the covered way to Lech- 
mere's Point. 

"17*^ Sunday. Went to Mistick to meeting. Some 
firing on our people at Lechmere's point. 

" 18*^ Monday. Went to Cambridge to draw things. 
The Reg* paraded this morning to be formed into two com- 
panies, that the rest of the officers might go home. Heard 
in Cambridge that Cpt Manly had taken another prize, 
with the Gov' of one of the Carolinas friendly to us, and 
the Hon. Matthews Esq' Memb. of the Continental Con- 
gress, whom Gov"" Dunmore had taken and sent for 
Boston. 

"19*^ Tuesday. Went to Cobble Hill. A shell and a 
shot from Bunker's Hill. The shell breaking in the air, 
one piece fell and touched a man's hat, but did no harm. 
Works upon Lechmere's Point continued. 

" 20'\ Wed. Went to Roxbury for money left for me 

by Maj' Latimer with Gen' Spencer, who refused to let me 

have it without security. Draw'd some things from the 
21* 



246 APPENDIX. 

Store. L* Catlin and Ens" Whittlesey set out home on 
foot. 

u 2ist^ Thursday. Wrote a number of letters. Went 
to Cambridge to carry them, where I found Mr. Hempstead 
had taken up my money at Gen^ Spencer's, and given his 
receipt. I took it of Hempstead, giving my receipt. The 
sum was £36, 10s, Od. * * * 

" 22*^, Friday. Some shot from the enemy. 

" 23'^, Saturday. Tried to draw 1 month's advance pay 
for my Company, but found I could not have it till Mon- 
day next. Upon which borrowed 76 Dollars of Cpt Lev- 
enworth, giving him an order on Col^ Webb for the same 
as soon as my advance pay for January should be drawn. 
SjO'Cl, P. M. Set out from Cambridge on my way home. 
At Watertown took the wrong road, and went two miles 
directly out of the way — which had to travel right back 
again. And after travelling about 11 miles put up at Ham- 
mons, Newtown, about 7 O'Cl. Entertainment pretty 
good. 

"24*^ Sunday. Left H's C|0'C1. Went 8 miles to 
Straytons, passing by Jackson's at 8 miles. Breakfasted 
at Straytons. The snow which began before we set out 
this morning increases, and becomes burthensome. From 
Straytons 9 miles to Stones — where we eat Biscuit and 
drank cyder. 7 miles to Jones — dined — arv'd Sjo'cl. 
From there 2 m., and forgot some things, and went back — 



hale's diary. 247 

then return'd. To Dr. Reeds that night. Pass'd Amadons 
and Keiths 3 m. Good houses. Within | m. of Dr. Reeds 
miss'd my road, and went 2 m. directly out of my way, and 
right back travell'd — in the whole to day 41 miles. The 
weather stormy, and the snow for the most part ancle deep. 

"25*^ Monday. From Dr. Reeds 8 O'Cl. Came 1 or 2 
m., and got horses. 4 m. to Hills, and breakfasted — ordi- 
nary. 8 m. to Jacobs, and din'd. Dismiss'd our horses. 
6 O'Cl. arv'd Keyes 11 m., and put up. Good enter- 
tainment. 

" 26^ Tuesday. 6 O'Cl. A. M. Fr. K. 6 m. to Kin- 
dais — ^breakfasted. 10 on to Southwards — din'd. Settled 
ace*' with S* Sage — d'^ h"" 16 dollars for paying Soldiers 1 
month's advance pay. Arv'd home a little after sunset. 
One heel string lame. 

u 2Yth^ -^e^j Heel lame. W* to Br. Roses. Aunt Rob^ 
Mr. Hun*°» and Cpt Robs. 

" 28*'*, Thursday. Unwell — tarried at home. 

"29^ Friday. Went to see G.C.Lyman. Call'd at 
Dr. Kingsbury's and Mr. Strongs. 

Hi * * * * * 

"Jany 1776. 24***, Wednesday. Set out from my 
Fathers for the Camp on horseback, at 7| O'Cl. At 11 
O'Cl. arv'd at Perkin's, by Ashford Meeting House, where 
left the horses. 12^ O'Cl. mch"^— 3i arv'd Grosvenors, 8 
m., and 4^ at Grosvenor's, Pomfret 2 m., and put up. 
Here met 9 Sold'' fr. Windham. 



248 APPENDIX. 

" 25^^ Thursday. 6i O'Cl. mch'^ from G., and came to 
Forbs 7 m., but another Co. hav^ engaged breakfast there, 
we were obliged to pass on to Jacobs (from Grov. ] 8°°) — 
After Breakfast went 8 m. to Hills, and dr'' some bad cyder 
in a worse tavern. 7 0,C1. arv'd Deacon Reeds, 5 m., 
Uxbridge, and ^ com^ put up, myself w*^ remainder passed 
on to Woods, 2 m. 

" 26t'\ Friday. 7 O'Cl. fr. Woods 4 m. to Almadons 
Mendoreld — ^breakfasted. 17 m. to Clark's, Medfield, and 
put up, — Co. put up 5 m. back. 

"27th, Saturday. Breakfasted at Clark's, 10 O'Cl. 
Mch'^, about 11 O'Cl— arv'd at Ellis' 5|, where drank a glass 
of brandy, and proceeded on 5-2 to Whitings. Arv'd 2 
O'Cl. Arv'd at Barkers in Jamaica Plains, but being 
refused entertainment, were obliged to betake ourselves to 
the Punch Bowl — where leaving the men, 11 m., went to 
Roxb^. Saw Gen' Spencer, who tho't it best to have 
the men there, as the Regiment were expected there on 
Monday or Tuesday. Indians at Gen' Spencers. Ret'' to 
Winter Hill. 

"28*'', Sunday. Went to Roxby., to find barracks for 
11 men that came with me, but not finding good ones ret'd 
to Temple's House, where the men were arrived before me. 
In the evening went to pay a last visit to General Sullivan, 
with Col° Webb and the Cpts of the Reg^ 

" 29*^ Monday. Nil mem. 



hale's t>iARy. 249 

" 30»^ Tuesday. Removed from Winter Hill to Roxb^. 

* H: * * * * 

" Feby 4*^, 1776. Sunday. 

" Feb. 14*^, 1776. Wednesday. Last night a party of 
Regulars made an attempt upon Dorchester, landing with 
a very considerable body of men, taking 6 of our guard, 
dispersing the rest, and burning two or three houses. The 
Guard house was set on fire, but extinguished. 

4s H< H< ^ ^ ^ 

" [New York.] July 23^^, 1776. Report in town of the 
arv'l of twenty S. of the Line in St Law" River. Docf^ 
Wolcott and Guy Rich*^^ Jun^ here fr'" N. L. Rec'd E. fr. 
G. Salstontall. 

"Aug. 21^*. Heavy Storm at Night. Much and heavy 
Thunder. Capt. Van Wyke, and a Lieut, and Ens. of 
Col° Mc Dougall's Reg* kill'd by a Shock. Likewise one 
man in town, belonging to a Militia Reg* of Connecticut. 
The Storm continued for two or three hours, for the great- 
est part of which time [there] was a perpetual Lightning, 
and the sharpest I ever knew. 

u 22'ij Thursday. The enemy landed some troops down 
at the Narrows on Long Island. 

"23<^, Friday. Enemy landed more troops — News that 
they had marched up and taken Station near Flatbush, 
their adv" Gds. being on this side near the Woods — that 



250 APPENDIX. 

some of our Riflemen attacked and drove them back from 
their post, burnt 2 stacks of hay, and it was thought kill'd 
some of them — this about 12 O'Clock at Night. Our 
troops attacked them at their station near Flatb., routed 
and drove them back 1^ mile." 



H. 

Page 97. 
Sketch of Stephen Hempstead. 

Of Stephen Hempstead, as the friend and confidential 
companion of Hale, for a part of the way, on his last fatal 
expedition, a brief account here will, we think, interest the 
Reader. 

He was born in New London on the sixth of May, 
1754. He was the son of Stephen and Sarah Hempstead, 
and was a descendant from Robert Hempstead, one of the 
chief original settlers of this town. "When the great strug- 
gle for independence commenced, he took an immediate and 
active part. In the summer of 1775, he was Lieutenant of 
a guard of from fifteen to twenty men, under Capt. Nathan- 
iel Salstontall, which, in the first movement to screen the 
country from invasion, manned the Old Fort in New Lon- 
don, on the Parade, near the water's edge. Soon after, he 
joined the army around Boston, and was stationed for a 
while at Dorchester Point. From thence he went with the 



252 APPENDIX. 

American troops to New York, and there was soon attached 
to Hale's company as Sergeant. He was a volunteer in the 
first vessels sent to destroy the Asia, a British man-of-war 
of sixty-four guns — and together with four other men from 
Hale's company, was also a volunteer in that fire-sloop, under 
command of Sergeant Fosdick, which, in August, 1776, 
was sent by Commodore Tupper to destroy the British frig- 
ate Phoenix, above Fort Washington on the North River — 
for which last special service he received forty dollars, by 
order of Washington. He was in the battle of Long Island 
— and subsequently, while defending the American lines at 
Harlem Heights, was wounded badly by grape-shot, which 
broke two of his ribs. Recovering, he continued in the 
service, with good reputation as an active and gallant soldier, 
until 1781, when in the memorable attack upon Fort Gro- 
ton, September sixth, he was again wounded. 

Of this attack he has left us a short, but painfully thrill- 
ing narrative — ^from which it appears, that upon the occa- 
sion he himself commanded an eighteen-pounder on the 
south side of the gate of the Fort. 

" While in the act of sighting my gun," he describes — as 
the enemy were rushing furiously to the assault — "a ball 
passed through the embrasure, struck me a little above the 
right ear, grazing the skull, and cutting off the veins, which 
bled profusely. A handkerchief was tied around it, and I 
continued at my duty. Discovering some little time after. 



STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD. 253 

that a British soldier had broken a picket at the bastion on 

my left, and was forcing himself through the hole, whilst 

the men stationed there were gazing at the battle which 

raged opposite to them, I cried, my brave fellows, the enemy 

are breaking in behind you, and raised my pike to dispatch 

the intruder, when a ball struck my left arm at the elbow, 

and my pike fell to the ground. Nevertheless I grasped it 

■ with my right hand, and with the men, who turned and 

fought manfully, cleared the breach." 

Hempstead was by the side of the gallant Ledyard when 

the latter fell, and was himself at the same moment again 

wounded. At this juncture, he narrates on these points — 

the enemy having entered the fort, and being engaged in 

firing by platoons upon those who were retreating to the 

magazine and barrack-rooms for safety — "the renegade 

Col. B. [Blomfield] commanding, cried out, who commands 

this garrison? Col. Ledyard, who was standing near me, 

answered, "I did sir, but you do now; " at the same time 

stepping forward, he handed him his sword with the point 

towards himself At this instant I perceived a soldier in the 

act of bayoneting me from behind. I turned suddenly 

round and grasped his bayonet, endeavoring to unship it, 

and knock off the thrust — ^but in vain. Having but one 

hand, he succeeded in forcing it into my right hip, above 

the joint, and just below the abdomen, and crushed me to 

the ground. The first person I saw afterwards was my 
22 



254 A p r E X D I X . 

brave commander, a corpse by my side, having been run 
through the body with his own sword, by the savage 
renegade." 

After the battle was over, Hempstead was one of those put 
by the enemy in that ammunition wagon whose headlong 
descent to the river-bank is familiar to all readers of history 
— and whose jar, he says, when arrested in its course by 
an apple tree, was "like bursting the cords of life asunder,"* 
and caused the poor sufferers " to shriek with almost super- 
natural force." Exhausted with pain, fatigue, and loss of 
blood, and parched with excruciating thirst, he was first 
relieved in the morning after the battle by the niece of his 
murdered commander — Miss Fanny Ledyard, of Southold, 
Long Island, then on a visit to her uncle. She held to my 
lips, he says, " a cup of warm chocolate, and soon after re- 
turned with wine and other refreshments, which revived us 
a little. For these kindnesses, she has never ceased to 
receive my most grateful thanks, and fervent prayers for 
her feUcity." 

" We were a horrible sight at this time," he continues — 
speaking of his own, and the appearance of his fellow-suf- 
ferers the next morning. " Our own friends did not know 
us — even my own wife* came in the room in search of me, 
and did not recognize me, and as I did not see her, she left 

* He had married, Sep. 4th, 1777, Mary Lewis. 



STEPHEN HEMPSTEAD. 255 

the room to seek for me among the slain, who had been col- 
lected under a large elm tree near the house." Hempstead 
was however soon, subsequently, recognized — his wounds 
dressed — and he was taken — "not," he says, "to my own 
house — ^for that was in ashes, as also every article of my 
property, furniture and clothing — ^but to my brother's, where 
I lay eleven months as helpless as a child, and to this day I 
feel the effects of it severely." 

"Such," he remarks, concluding his narration — "such 
was the battle of Groton Heights ; and such, so far as my 
imperfect manner and language can describe, a part of the 
sufferings which we endured. Never, for a moment, have 
I regretted the share I had in it. I would for an equal de- 
gree of honor, and the prosperity which has resulted to my 
country from the Revolution, be willing, if possible, to 
suffer it again." Noble sentiment — worthy the patriot- 
soldier — worthy the companion of Hale ! 

Hempstead remained in New London for many years 
after the war was over — and there, incapacitated by wounds 
from regular labor, and aided only by a small pittance from 
government, he eked out a support at one time by keeping 
the County Jail, and at another by acting as Overseer of the 
Town Poor. In 1811, he removed with his whole family to 
the West — to St, Louis, Missouri — ^whither his son Edward 
— one of ten children — ^liad gone before him. The latter 
part of his life, as we are politely informed by Judge James 



256 APPENDIX. 

B. Colt, formerly of St. Louis, " he resided upon a farm about 
six miles from the city, back of the Bellfontaine Cemetery, 
very much respected and beloved. His character," adds the 
Judge, "was high-toned. He was a member of the First 
Presbyterian Church of St. Louis. One of his sons was 
instrumental in getting up the old Missouri Fur Company. 
Another, Charles S. Hempstead Esquire, still lives in Galena, 
lUinois. His son Edward, an able lawyer, was the first Dele- 
gate from Missouri to Congress." His whole family, we 
understand, prospered highly. 

In January, 1827, he fortunately gave to the world, through 
the columns of the Missouri Republican, a brief narrative of 
him whom he styles " one of the most accomplished officers 
of his grade and age," in the Revolutionary army — the 
"brave, learned, young, and honorable" Captain Nathan 
Hale. In 1831, October third, silvered with years — cheer- 
ful in the possession of a firm and unwavering Christian 
faith, and "leaving a good name for truth, virtue, and 
piety" — he died. An excellent funeral discourse was 
preached over his remains by Rev. Wm. S. Potts of St, 
Louis, and he was buried in the beautiful Bellfontaine 
Cemetery, upon land which once composed a part of his 
own farm. 



I. 

Page 113. 

Of Hale's Supposed Betrayal by a Relative. 

The basis of the story is to be found in an article in the 
Essex [Mass.] Journal, far back as Feb. 13th, 17T7.* The 
statements therein made are given without a shadow of 
proof, and contradict well-known facts. Yet when first 
published — aliment, as they were, for a zealous popular pre- 
judice against American loyalists — and swelling, as they 
did, the profitable clamor against tory treachery and malev- 
olence — they were quite extensively credited, and even im- 
posed on the belief of Stephen Hempstead, and partly on 
that of Asher Wright. They were, however, very soon 
met and refuted, both by the party accused, and by his 
uncle, the Hon. Samuel Hale of Portsmouth, New Hamp- 
shire — in whose family the former had been tenderly 
reared. 



* It is copied in full in Hinman's Connecticut War of the Revolution, page 

22* 



268 APPENDIX. 

The charge was, that Samuel Hale, the nephew — having 
been, but a short time before his attributed betrayal of his 
cousin, hospitably entertained at the house of Nathan's 
father in Coventry, where he had " counterfeited, long as he 
tarried, and as well as he could, a whiggish phiz" — escaped 
to New York — and there, before Gen. Howe, on the appre- 
hension and trial of his cousin, appeared and made oath 
that the latter was a captain in the Continental army, and 
a spy. 

In 1826, the original article containing the charge was 
reproduced in the columns of the Newburyport Herald, 
and was immediately answered in the Portsmouth Journal, 
of date Sep. 23d, 1826, in the following conclusive manner: 

"Mr. Editor. In the last Journal there is an article, cop- 
ied from the Newburyport Herald, which contains a state- 
ment, taken from the Essex Journal, dated Feb. 13th, 1777, 
which is entirely false. It asserts that Capt. Nathan Hale, 
who was executed as a spy in New York, Sep. 22d, 1776, 
was betrayed by his cousin Samuel late of Portsmouth. 

"As the Herald mentions that the account was published 
at this time with a view of eliciting some information rela- 
tive to the subject, the following facts, which may be relied 
upon, are stated. 

" Capt. N. Hale was a son of Hon. Richard Hale of Cov- 
entry in Connecticut ; he was educated at Yale College, 



THE CHARGE OF BETRAYAL. 259 

where he graduated in 1773. The Hon. Samuel Hale, who 
so long kept a school in Portsmouth, was brother to Richard, 
and of course uncle to Capt. N. Hale, and also to Samuel. 
The latter was son of Mr. John Hale of Cape Ann ; previous 
to the Revolution he was a lawyer in Portsmouth ; but, be- 
coming attached to the British cause, he left his country, and 
joined the enemy. 

" The Hon. Samuel Hale of Portsmouth was a decided 
friend to the Revolution, and was deeply affected at the 
death of his nephew, Capt. N. Hale, and though advanced 
in life, was extremely excited by the publication alluded to 
in the Essex Journal. He immediately wrote to his brother, 
father of Capt. Hale, to know the relative facts ; who in re- 
ply stated, that Samuel his nephew (the person alluded to 
as the betrayer of his son) liad not even J)een at Ms house. 

"There are persons now living who know that this 
wicked accusation was strictly investigated at the time by 
Hon. Samuel Hale, and was found to be a malicious fabrica- 
tion, without the least shadow of foundation." 

In continuation of the refutation here given, the story of 
Nathan Hale as told by Hannah Adams in her History of 
New England, was quoted — and it was justly urged — she 
having had access to the best sources of information, and 
particularly to Gen. Hull himself, the intimate friend of the 
Martyr Spy — ^that " so gloomy a circumstance as Capt. 



260 APPENDIX. 

Hale's being betrayed by his cousin, would not have failed 
to have been noticed " by her pen. 

It is to be added here, that Hull himself, in his own pub- 
lished account of Hale, makes no mention whatever of such 
a circumstance. On the other hand he says expressly, that 
the British officer, who, under a flag of truce, informed 
xilexander Hamilton, then a captain of artillery, of Hale's 
execution, told him, Hull, that the impers found upon Hale 
— "the sketches of the British fortifications, and memoranda 
of their numbers and different positions" — were Hale's 
'betrayers. " When apprehended," said this officer to Hull, 
"he was taken before Gen. Howe, and tlie paj^ers, found 
concealed about his person., betrayed his intentions ! " Not 
a word from this flag officer, who was perfectly familiar, as 
Hull informs us, with "the melancholy particulars" of 
Hale's fate, and " touched by the circumstances attending 
it," not one word, be it remarked, about his being betrayed 
by his cousin ! Could so striking a circumstance, had it 
occurred, have escaped his notice, and report? Certainly 
not. The just and strong inference, therefore, from his 
entire silence about it, is that it did not occur. 

In confirmation of the article from the Portsmouth Journal, 
we add here an extract from a letter written by Hon. Wil- 
Ham Hale, a son of Nathan's uncle, Samuel Hale of Ports- 
mouth, and a gentleman who for six years represented 
New Hampshire in Congress, and was frequently a member 



THE CHAKGE OF BETEAYAL. 261 

of the State Legislature. His letter, bearing date Dover, 
N. H., Sep. 21st, 1836, was addressed to Cyrus Bradley 
Esquire, at Hanover, N. H., at a time when the latter was 
interesting himself in collecting materials for a hfe of Capt. 
Hale, and the extract is as follows : 

" When Capt. Nathan Hale visited my father at Ports- 
mouth, more than sixty years since, I was too young to 
retain any knowledge of his person or conversation. I was 
the youngest son, and neither of my three elder brothers 
were in Portsmouth when Capt. Hale made his visit. Two 
of them have since died. I had three sisters, who have all 
deceased. Two of my sisters were grown up when he made 
his visit, and I have heard them, and my father, frequently 
speak of Capt. Hale's interesting appearance and accomplish- 
ments ; and I perfectly recollect the anguish experienced by 
my father, and sisters, when the account of his death was 
received. And I -^CA recollect the great excitement of my 
father when he saw in a Newburyport newspaper an 
account alledging that Capt. Hale was betrayed at New 
York by his cousin, and his determination to fully investi- 
gate the subject. He wrote to his brother, Capt. Hale's 
father, at Coventry, and received a letter in reply, which, 
with the result of other inquiries, fullt/ satisfied Mm that 
the account of Capt. Hale's being betrayed by his cousin 
was wholly loitJiout foundation. This letter I have seen, 



262 APPENDIX. 

and regret that it is not now to be found. My youngest 
sister lived upon the spot my father occupied in Portsmouth, 
and at the great fire in Portsmouth, her house was burnt, 
with my father's account books and most of his papers." 

In still farther refutation of the charge in question, we 
have the positive and indignant denial of the party accused. 
But ere we introduce this, let the Reader get some idea of the 
man himself 

He had been tenderly reared, as we have already sug- 
gested, by his uncle at Portsmouth — there had been edu- 
cated — there had been started upon a promising career as a 
barrister, and there had married. He was a man of decided 
intelligence, of enlarged information, and of an afifectionate 
and honest heart. These characteristics are all plainly 
manifest from his correspondence — a portion of which has 
been politely placed in our hands through th>, ^o?-- r te .y of 
Mrs. Judge Elisabeth Hale Smith, of Lee, N- w Hav pshire. 

When the war broke out, like many others in the land, 
he remained, fi'om habit, and upon conviction, a loyaUst — 
a decided one — without concealment or prevarication — and 
he openly joined General Howe. " My affections as well as 
my allegiance," he wrote to his uncle at Portsmouth, " are 
due to another nation. I love the British government with 
filial fondness. I have never been actuated by any political 
rancor towards the Americans. My conduct has always 



THE CHARGE OF BETRAYAL. 263 

been fair, explicit, and open, and I may add, some of your 
people have found it humane at a time when affairs on our 
side wore the most flattering appearances. My veneration 
is as high, my friendship as warm, and my attachment as 
great as ever it was for many characters among you, tho' I 
have differed much from them in pohtics. In the justness 
of the reasoning which led to the principles that have guided 
me thro' life, I can suppose myself mistaken. The same 
thing may have been the case with my opponents. Our 
powers are so limited, our means of information so inade- 
quate to the end, that common decency requires we should 
forgive each other when we have every reason to think each 
has acted honestly. Sure I am this is the case with me, 
and I hope it is the same with some of you. My conduct 
during this unhappy contest has been invariablj^ uniforai. 
I can in no sense be called a traitor to your State. I never 
owed it any allegiance, because I left it before it had 
assumed the form or even the name of an Independent 
State, and when I neither saw or felt any oppression. I 
must have been mad as well as wicked to have acted any 
other part than I did upon the principles I held. If I have 
been mistaken, I am sorry for the error, and if it be error, 
I still continue in it." 

These sentences show the loyalist under review to have 
been honest and sincere in his political faith. The language 
of his letters in other respects shows him to have been 



264 APPENDIX. 

equally honest and sincere in his social and private attach- 
ments, especially to his own family and kindred — for whose 
happiness and prosperity he seems ever to have been solicit- 
ous and active. Indeed, in this view, there is a loving 
tenderness at times in the tone of his letters, which utterly 
forbids the idea of the treachery charged upon him. 

The kindness of his uncle, particularly, he never forgot. 
*' I owe everything to you," he wrote him from London, 
after he had left this country, as he did towards the close of 
the war — " because to you I owe my education, and if I 
have any character myself, it was formed under you," — " I 
took real pleasure," he adds, " in seeing your son John's 
name in the last year's Catalogue of Harvard University, 
I tho't the rogue had the seeds of genius and learning in 
him, and I knew that under your tuition he must make 
something." 

The loss of his parents — first heard of by him after he 
had gone abroad — affected him most profoundly — and he 
leaned, in his bereavement, with yearning sensibility, upon 
the hearts of his relatives at Portsmouth. " I did not 
expect " he wrote his uncle not long after this event, " but I 
might at last have seen once more one of the authors of my 
being — but Providence has ordered otherwise, and it is our 
duty to submit. Alas, my poor mother — but I must for- 
bear that subject, or even at this period my weakness would 
unman me. How does my good aunt and the children? 



THE CHAEGE OF BETKAYAL. 265 

Make my best regards to them all, particularly to my aunt. 
Alas, she is now the only mother I have left ! " His sister 
Mrs. Jane Denison dying, a widow, at Beverly, Massachu- 
setts, expressed the wish that her brother Samuel should 
adopt her little daughter. "If my circumstances will per- 
mit," was his speedy response, " the poor little girl shall not 
want for a father in me." His sister Hannah, upon the 
death of her parents, was suflfering, he feared, from pecu- 
niary embarassment, and from melancholy. "Poor Han- 
nah," he communicated to his uncle then — " I am appre- 
hensive she will be in want. K that should be the case, 
write to either of my brothers, and beg them, for my sake, 
to extend more than a brother's care to her. If Providence 
does smile, as I wish it may, and have reasons to expect, 
they shall be amply repaid if their circumstances shall 
require it. I will write her myself the first opportunity." 
To his wife and child, whom he had left behind at Ports- 
mouth, he sent constant tokens of his affection — and labored 
most earnestly, just after the close of the war, and before 
the Definitive Treaty of Peace was signed, to procure the 
repeal of a law of New Hampshire disallowing refugees from 
returning to that State — in order that he might go back 
there again himself, and enjoy the sweets of domestic life 
with his wife and boy. 

It was to this wife, Lydia Parker Hale, that, September 

10th, 1777— just when the charge against him of betraying 
23 



266 APPENDIX. 

his cousin was rife — he wrote, stamping it, most explicitly, 
as a ''falseliood.'' His words, loyalist though he was — in view 
of his character as we have briefly portrayed it here — con- 
sidering his well known sincerity, veracity, and family affec- 
tion — are entitled to the fullest credit. We give the 
letter entire — for it helps to illustrate the man. It is as 
follows : 

" My dear Girl. — This you will get by Mr. Hart's flag of 
Truce, who is coming to Boston for his family. I know the 
disposition of the Leaders at Boston so well, that T doubt 
not of his success. I would have come for you and the boy, 
but I thought you would leave your father with reluctance, 
nor am I sure that I could have obtained leave for you to 
come away, if you were disposed. I fear the resentment of 
the people against me may have injured you, but I hope 
not. I am sorry such a prejudice has arisen. 

'■'■Depend upon it tliere never was the least truth in that 
infamous newspaper publication charging me loith ingrati- 
tude^ <&c. I am happy that they have had recourse to false- 
hood to vilify my character. Attachment to the old Consti- 
tution of my country is my only crime icith tliem^for which 
I have still the disposition of a primitive martyr. 

" I hope & believe you want no pecuniary assistance. If 
you should, you may apply to some of my friends or your 
relations. You may then use my name with confidence 



THE CHARGE OF BETRAYAL. 267 

that they shall be amply satisfied. I beHeve I shall have 

the power, I am sure I have the will, to recompense them 

again. I somewhat expect to see you in a few months — 

perhaps not before T have seen England. In the meanwhile, 

my dear Girl, take care of your own, and the Boy's health. 

He may live to be serviceable to his country in some distant 

period. Respect, Love, Duty, &c., await all my inquiring 

and real friends. I am, &c., 

"S. Hale." 
"To Mrs. Hale. 

It deserves to be added here, ere this article is closed, that 
at the time of the rumor under consideration, a story pre- 
cisely opposite in its character also prevailed, viz., that 
Samuel Hale discovered, but strove earnestly to seme Ms 
cousin Nathan ! K he discovered him at all, his own nature, 
and the ties of relationship, we are fully justified in believ- 
ing, would have undoubtedly prompted him to a course 
thus humane and afifectionate. 



J. 

Page 155. 

Hon. H. J. Raymond's Remarks on Hale. 

In admirable consonance with our own views, and in most 
eloquent tribute also to the memory of Hale, Hon. H. J. 
Raymond of New York — in his Address, October seventh, 
1853, at the Dedication of the Monument erected at Tarry- 
town to commemorate the spot where Major Andre was 
captured — says : 

"At an earlier stage of the Revolution, Nathan Hale, 
Captain in the American army, which he had entered, 
abandoning brilliant prospects of professional distinction, 
for the sole purpose of defending the liberties of his coun- 
try, — gifted, educated, ambitious, — the equal of Andre in 
talent, in worth, in amiable manners, and in every manly 
quality, and his superior in that final test of character, — 
the motives by which his acts were prompted, and his life 
was guided, — ^laid aside every consideration personal to him- 
self, and entered upon a service of infinite hazard to life and 
honor, because Washington deemed it important to the 



APPENDIX. 269 

sacred cause to which both had been sacredly set apart. 
Like Andre he was found in the hostile camp ; like him, 
though without a trial, he was adjudged a spy; and like 
him he was condemned to death. And here the likeness 
ends. No consoling word, no pitying or respectful look, 
cheered the dark hour of his doom. He was met with 
insult at every turn. The sacred consolations of the minis- 
ter of God were denied him ; his Bible was taken from him ; 
with an excess of barbarity hard to be paralleled in civilized 
war, his dying letters of farewell to his mother and sister 
were destroyed in his presence ; and uncheered by sympathy, 
mocked by brutal power, and attended only by that sense 
of duty, incorruptible, undefiled, which had ruled his life, — 
finding its fit farewell in the serene and sublime regret that 
he " had but one life to lose for his country," — he went forth 
to meet the great darkness of an ignominious death. The 
loving hearts of his early companions have erected a 
neat monument to his memory in his native town; but 
beyond that little circle where stands his name recorded? 
While the Majesty of England, in the person of her Sove- 
reign, sent an embassy across the sea to solicit the remains 
of Andre at the hand§ of his foes, that they might be 
enshrined in that sepulchre where she garners the relics of 
her mighty and renowned sons — " splendid in their ashes 
and pompous in the grave " — the children of Washington 

have left the body of Hale to sleep in its unknown tomb, 
23* 



270. RAYMOND ON HALE. 

though it be on his own native soil, unhonored by any out- 
ward observance, unmarked by memorial stone. Monody, 
eulogy, — monuments of marble and of brass, and of letters 
more enduring than all, — have, in his own land and in ours, 
given the name and the fate of Andre to the sorrowing 
remembrance of all time to come. American genius has 
celebrated his praises, has sung of his virtues and exalted 
to heroic heights his prayer, manly but personal to himself, 
for choice in the manner of death, — and his dying challenge 
to all men to witness the courage with which he met his 
fate. But where, save on the cold page of history, stands 
the record for Hale? Where is the hymn that speaks to 
immortality, and tells of the added brightness and enhanced 
glory, when his equal soul joined its noble host? And 
where sleeps the Americanism of Americans, that their 
hearts are not stirred to solemn rapture at thought of the 
sublime love of country which buoyed him not alone ' above 
the fear of death,' but far beyond all thought of himself, of 
his fate and his fame, or of anything less than his country, — 
and which shaped his dying breath into the sacred sentence 
which trembled at the last upon his unquivering lip ?* 

It would not, perhaps, befit the proprieties of this occasion 
were I to push the inquiry into the causes of so great a dif- 
ference in the treatment which Andre received at the hands 

* " Like the soaring eagle," said General Hull of Hale, " the patriotic ardor 
of his soul ' winged the dart' which caused his destruction." 



APPENDIX. 271 

of his American captors, whose destruction he had come, 
not to conquer, but to betray, — and that which the British 
bestowed upon Nathan Hale. Much of it was, doubtless, 
due to the difference in the composition of the opposing 
armies, — ^the one of hirehngs in the service of power, seek- 
ing the conquest of freemen, — ^the other of freemen defend- 
ing their Hberties, and keenly alive to the sensibilities and 
affections — ^the love of home, of brethren, of fellow-men — 
which alone sustained them in the unequal strife. I have 
introduced it now, not for the sake of complaint, nor even 
for the worthier purpose of challenging as unpatriotic and 
un-American, the habit of allowing all our sympathy and all 
our tears to be engrossed by an accomplished and unhappy 
foe, who failed in a service of doubtful morality, undertaken 
for the sake of promotion and of personal glory, in oblivion 
of what is due to one of a nobler stamp, — our own country- 
man, who knew no object of love but his and our country, 
who judged "every kind of service honorable, which was 
necessary to the pubHc good," and who by genius, by char- 
acter, by patriotic devotion and by misfortune, has para- 
mount claims upon the love and cherishing remembrance 
of American hearts." 



Notices of tl)c toovk. 



The Publisher of this volume takes occasion to present 
here the following testimonials to Its merits, from the Press, 
and from the pens of distinguished gentlemen : 

FROM THE HARTFORD COURANT. 

" This interesting work has proved one of the most suc- 
cessful and popular biographies ever published In this coun- 
try. It is a glorious good book, written by one of the ablest 
pens in the State — clearly, simply, forcibly written. The 
gtory of Hale Is almost new, absolutely new to nine out of 
ten who read It. It Is the most thrilling authentic romance 
of the Pc solution. * * Hale died with more than Roman 
firnyi>>s^ and heroism. He died with more sublimity, and 
under circumstances as tear-moving as Andre. We are glad 
that his life has fallen into hands well skilled to reanimate it. 
The work Is a model, and can be securely used as a study 
by all those who are attempting historic portraiture." 

FROM THE HARTFORD TIMES. 

" Indeed this little volume Is praised by everybody. It is 
beautifully written, presenting historic incidents in which the 
whole American people feel a lively Interest, in a manner 
that Is universally admired. The people of Connecticut 
especially, will ever feel grateful to Mr. Stuart for this act 
of justice to her valiant son, the Martyr-Spy." 
1 



FROM HON. GEORGE BANCROFT, THE HISTORIAN, TO 
THE AUTHOR. 

" You have done an excellent and deserved service to the 
memorj' of an upright, disinterested patriot, who seems to 
have been guided by a sense of duty, and not by a desire for 
emolument or even for fame, but who, superior to all weak- 
ness, lived as in the eye of the great Taskmaster. On me 
you have an additional claim for gratitude, for the careful 
and attractive manner in which you have embodied all the 
information that was accessible on the subject, leaving noth 
ing to be hunted up by the historic inquirer." 

FROM JARED SPARKS, LL. D., TO THE SAME. 

" I perused the volume with great satisfaction. It is a just 
tribute to the memory of a man, whose name will ever stand 
high on the list of those who have sacrificed their lives in the 
service of their country. You have been alike successful in 
collecting facts, and presenting them in an attractive form. 
The Diary has a peculiar interest as exhibiting the interior 
condition of the army at that time ; and the entire K^v-ative 
is a valuable contribution to our historical annals." 

FROM HON. WILLIAM H. PRESCOTT, THE HISTORIAN, 
TO THE SAME. 

" I am much obliged to you for your interesting and touch- 
ing memoir of Captain Nathan Hale. Few of our historians 
have made the mention of him to which he is entitled by his 
personal merits and his unhappy fate. His name is as de- 
serving of commemoration as that of Andre, who has been 
justly an object of so much sympathy with his countrymen. 
I think every American reader must feel grateful to you for 
the hearty tribute you have paid to the character of our 
unfortunate countryman." 



FROM HON. ROBERT C. WINTIIROP, TO THE SAME. 

" I have read your life of Nathan Hale, the Martyr- Spy, 
with great interest. I am exceedingly glad that such a trib- 
ute has at length been paid to his memory. The Diary of 
poor Hale, and the account of his family, in the Appendix, 
render the work valuable as a permanent historical record." 

FROM BENJAMIN SILLIMAN, SENIOR, LL. D., TO THE 
SAME. 

" I have read your Lifo of Nathan Hale through, and 
with deep interest. You have discharged an important duty 
to the memory of that eminently gallant, patriotic, and noble 
youth, and the record will not, I trust, be lost upon the 
youth of this generation, and of those that are to follow in all 
future time." 

FROM HON. EDWARD EVERETT, TO THE SAME. 

" I am gratified to hear that your life of Capt. Nathan 
Hale is passing to a second edition. His character is of a 
sterling cast, and his unhappy fate one of the most interest- 
ing events of the American Kevolution. You have explored 
the subject with diligence, and arranged and described the 
facts, many of which are now for the first time narrated, 
with so much judgment, feeling, and spirit, as to make a 
work of permanent value." 

FROM HON. NATHAN HALE, OF BOSTON, TO THE 
SAME. 

" Accept my thanks for the service which you have ren- 
dered in rescuing from oblivion the memory of my uncle, 
Capt. Nathan Hale, whose chivalrous self-devotion brought 
him to a prenjature death, with my conviction that you 



have executed a very difficult task, in a manner biglily cred- 
itable to yourself, and satisfactory to the members of the 
family most deeply interested in the subject of the memoir. 
I feel under great obligations to you for having undertaken 
the work under circumstances so discouraging as regards the 
acc[uisition of materials, and for having executed it in a man- 
ner that gives a deep interest, as well as a historical value 
to the narrative." 

FROM HON. G. H. HOLLISTER, THE HISTORIAN OF 
CONNECTICUT, TO THE SAME. 

" It is a most interesting narrative. You have gathered 
all the materials that can throw any light upon the subject, 
and have arranged them with the hand of an artist. By 
doing so, you have placed thousands of your fellow-country- 
men under lasting obligations to you. Allow me to congrat- 
ulate you upon the success that must follow this noble work, 
which will live long after you are dead, and after the gran- 
ite blocks of the Hale Monument shall have toppled down." 

FROM HENRY ONDERDONK, JR., ESQ., AUTHOR OF 
"REVOLUTIONARY INCIDENTS OF LONG ISLAND," 
TO THE SAME. 

"It is hardly worth while to waste words in praise of your 
book ; for it seems to me all that could be desired, and the 
manner of treating the more uncertain topics eminently mod- 
est and in good taste. It is the best monument yet reared 
to Hale's memory. It contains many, very many precious 
facts that have not hitherto been presented to the public by 
any author. Henceforth Hale's fate must find a place in 
everv historv of the Revolution." 



FROM THE NEW HAVEN PALLADIUM. 

'' This work is a faithful, earnest, and eloquent tribute to 
a man of noble daring, and of such other qualities as to make 
him entitled to universal admiration. Mr. Stuart, in his 
graphic and finished style of writing, gives more of the early- 
history of Hale than we had supposed existed, and it is all 
interesting from his birth to the college, and from the col- 
lege to the army, and alas ! from thence to the fatal tree." 

FROM THE BRIDGEPORT STANDARD. 

" This work, by the Hon. I. W. Stuart, of Hartford, is a 
noble tribute to the memory of one whose name should be 
warmly cherished by every son of Connecticut. The effort, 
on the part of the author, has evidently been a labor of love. 
The memoir, valuable as a contribution to our historical lit- 
erature, should everywhere be commended to the youth of 
our country — to all who would hold in lasting remembrance 
the virtue, the calm moral courage of the Hero Spy — the 
self-sacrifice of the martyred Patriot'' 

FROM THE LITCHFIELD ENQUIRER. 

" There is a loving tenderness in the whole story which 
must interest all readers alike. One may read it again and 
again with new emotions and sympathetic tears. The spirit 
in which the work is conceived is elevated and pure as its 
style. It ought to be put in the hands of every child in the 
State, for the lessons of industry, patriotism, courage, man- 
liness, truth, and piety which it breathes." 

FROM THE NEW LONDON CHRONICLE. 

'"■ The memory of Hale does indeed deserve this tribute, 
and it may be considered a fortunate circumstance that the 

1* 



bestowment of it has fallen into such hands, those of one who 
has entered upon the duty with such distinguished quahfica- 
tions for discharging it skillfully and well — who has written 
every word con amore^ and with intense reverence for his 
subject." 

FROM THE NEAV LONDON STAR. 
" It is only in centuries that men yield up their lives on 
the scaffold, with the regret, that they have but one to offer 
for their country, and the historian can not too widely hold 
out the patriotic language that escapes. Mr. Stuart gives a 
complete and accurate history of Nathan Hale, from his birth 
to his death, and we trust it will reach every family in Con- 
necticut." 

FROM THE NORWICH COURIER. 
" Mr. Stuart's task was worthy of his well-known abilities, 
and he has executed it with a patient assiduity, and an inge- 
nuity of research deserving of all praise." 

FROM THE RELIGIOUS HERALD, CONN. 

" The good people of Connecticut are largely indebted to 
Hon. Mr. Stuart for this volume, in which he has garnered 
up facts with diligent research, arranged them with consum- 
mate skill, and clothed them in a style graceful and free." 

FROM THE HOMESTEAD, CONN. 

"No one can read this book without fcehng that he has 
gained a new name to chronicle among the great and good 
that his ' soul delighteth to honor.' " 

FROM THE CALENDAR, CONN. 

"Though the materials for the biography have been 
deemed few and scanty, the industry and perseverance of 



the author has increased them vastly, and he seems to have 
employed them faithfully and judiciously. It only remains 
to say, that the style and manner of the work, both mechan- 
ically and intellectually, are a credit both to author and 
publisher." 

FROM THE BOSTON DAILY ADVERTISER. 

" Every detail of the short life which thus ended, is nar- 
rated with zealous interest in Mr. Stuart's memoir of this 
young officer. And we are able to speak from considerable 
examination of the subject he has in hand, when we say that 
he has exhausted every source of information, and brought 
together every incident, in the short life of his hero, which 
can now be related with confidence." 

FROM THE BOSTON TRAVELER. 

'' This book will serve to correct, in part at least, the 
strange and unaccountable injustice heretofore done to Capt. 
Hale, and will render his virtues, his accomplishments, and 
his disinterested bravery, familiar to his countrymen." 

FROM THE BOSTON JOURNAL. 

" We welcome this little volume with unusual pleasure, 
for it does an act of justice to the memory of a noble patriot, 
which had been too long neglected. Of such a man, the 
biography should be in every i^merican's possession." 

FROM THE WAVERLEY MAGAZINE, BOSTON. 

" This interesting work is a valuable addition to our na- 
tional standard biography. It is finely illustrated, and a 
genealogy of the Hale family is also appended. It is the 
most interesting biography we have ever read." 



8 



FROM THE WORCESTER ^GIS, MASS. 

" The style in which Mr. Stuart has performed his work 
can not be too highly commended, either for the care with 
which he has elaborated the historical matter, or the beauty 
of diction with which he has adorned each page." 

FROM THE SPRINGFIELD REPUBLICAN, MASS. 

" It is a fitting tribute to the brave martyr-spy of the Rev- 
olution. The patriotism, the manliness, the noble devotion 
manifested by him, have placed his name immortally among 
the worthies of the Revolution, and very faithfully and very 
affectionately has Mr. Stuart followed him through the task 
he undertook, its trials and its terrible termination." 

FROM THE VERMONT JOURNAL. 

" This little volume will be hailed with pleasure by every 
American who cherishes the memory of the heroes of the 
Revolution. The life and death of Hale are depicted 
with a graphic pen. His amiabihty and piety seem to have 
been as remarkable as his genius and heroism. We recom- 
mend the book to all." 

FROM THE NEW YORK COURIER AND ENQUIRER. 

" The present volume is a fitting memorial of Hale, giving 
a complete and graphic account of his career and character ; 
and it should be read by every one who cares to know one 
of the most gallant spirits of the Revolution." 

FROM THE NEW YORK EVENING POST. 

" The work has been accomplished in an earnest spirit, 
and will prove a valuable addition to the Revolutionary biog- 
raphy of the country." 



FROM THE INDEPENDENT, NEW YORK. 

"The work is complete in its collection of materials. The 
materials are exquisitely wrought by an artist's hand." 

FROM THE NEW YORK DAILY TIMES. 

" Of this man, worthy of all honor, we here have the life 
and death clearly narrated, from first to last, and a sad rec- 
ord it is — albeit most honorable to Hale's memory. The 
volume contains nine well executed engravings, illustrative 
of Hale's life. Mr. Stuart has made a valuable contribu- 
tion, in this book, to the historical biography of the Ee vo- 
lution." 

FROM THE NEW YORK OBSERVER. 

" By all who hold the name of Nathan Hale in grateful 
recollection — and who does not — this little volume, faithfully 
and laboriously prepared, and neatly published, with litho- 
graphic illustrations, will be received with welcome, and 
preserved as valuable." 

FROM THE EVENING MIRROR, NEW YORK. 

" If any life is worthy of record in letters of gold, surely 
that of Nathan Hale deserves to be engraven on the heart 
of every true American. The Hon. I. W. Stuart has, in a 
work recently published, relieved our country from a re- 
proach, and eloquently and graphically given to the world 
an authentic narrative of his career, and we can commend it 
as an admirable and absorbing sketch of one deserving im- 
mortality of name." 

FROM THE NEW YORK JOURNAL OF COMMERCE. 

" The book we are noticing is a worthy tribute to the 
memory of the heroic martyr." 



10 



FROM THE KNICKERBOCKER MAGAZINE, NEW YORK. 

" This volume supplies, and ivell supplies, a very impor- 
tant desideratum in American Revolutionary history. From 
a great variety of authentic sources, there is noAv gathered 
together in the volume before us, a well-digested history of 
the ' Martyr-Spy of the Revolution.' " 

FROM THE ALBANY ARGUS, NEW YORK. 

" The author of this work has at length given us the result 
of his laborious research in one of the most attractive and ex- 
citing volumes that we have seen in many a day. He traces 
Hale's history from the commencement to the close of life 
with great simplicity and beauty, and brings out the appal- 
ling details with which the scene closes so vividly and im- 
pressively as to be almost an overmatch for weak nerves. 
We can not but regard the work as alike creditable to the 
subject and the author, and as a most valuable contribution 
to our Revolutionary history." 

FROM THE ALBANY EVENING JOURNAL, NEW YORK. 
" The history of Nathan Hale, ' the Martyr-Spy,' is one 
of those romantic episodes of our Revolutionary struggle, of 
which the American public are never weary." 

FROM THE TROY DAILY WHIG, NEW YORK. 

" Mr. Stuart has given us a beautiful and reliable memoir 
which will become as familiar as household words in our 
homes, and thrown such deep interest around the narrative 
that we return to it many times and oft with increased grat- 
ification." 



11 



FROM THE EVENING CHRONICLE, SYRACUSE, NEW 
YORK. 

" Well assured are we, that if the glowing, pathetic, and 
truthful recital from the masterly pen of Mr. Stuart be read, 
there will never fail heart throbs of pride, and never cease 
to flow tears of sympathy, to keep the turf green upon the 
memory of Nathan Hale, the Martyr-Spy." 

FROM THE ST. LOUIS REPUBLICAN, MISSOURL 
" A biography long needed in American history, and 
which is now furnished in the most authentic and pleasing 
form. Capt. Hale was one of the first martyrs of the revo- 
lutionary struggle. For the first time, the facts connected 
with his services and sufferings are connected in a continuous 
narrative. The resemblance between Hale and Andre, 
in youth, accomplishments, bravery, condemnation, and the 
sad termination of life, is remarkable. War but seldom fur- 
nishes two such victims to its relentless demands. The work 
is beautifully printed and illustrated." 

FROM THE NATIONAL INTELLIGENCER, D. C. 

" This work has its origin in a praiseworthy attempt on 
the part of its author, to throw around the name of Hale 
that pitying tenderness and regret which have embalmed 
alike in the hearts of friends and foes the memory of the un- 
fortunate Andre. The present memoir in his honor has 
been compiled with evident carefulness, and with a genial 
appreciation of its subject, which shows its preparation to 
have been a labor of love on the part of its author. * * 
We commend this biography to all who desire to acquaint 
themselves in clearer outlines with the character of him who 



12 

in meeting an ignominious death, ' regretted only that he had 
but one hfe to lose for his country.' " 

FFtOM THE LOUISVILLE JOURNAL, KENTUCKY. 

" The story of Captain Hale is perhaps the most heroic 
and thrilHng that belongs to our history, and we can pro- 
nounce no higher eulogy upon the author than to say that he 
has fitly enshrined it in the national literature. His life of 
Captain Hale is beyond question among the most finished 
and enchanting biographical sketches in the language. It 
possesses all the fascination and freshness of fiction combined 
with the far deeper and more exquisite charm of idealized 
fact. It is living and breathing truth, and therefore more 
bewitching as well as stranger than fiction. After perusing 
it, none can wonder that this single performance should have 
placed the author high among the classic writers of our lan- 
guage. What splendid achievements may not American 
literature anticipate hereafter from so ripe, and elegant, and 
triumphant a pen." 



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